Hood vs Red Fountain
by dawnlight55
Summary: Musa is the head of a for hire group called Hood that does anything from stealing to kidnapping. Riven is head of The Specialists from Red Fountain that works for the corrupt Magix Government. They're mortal enemies and Musa's past is scarred, what more could you want? Rated T for language and sexual references! AU!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So I wrote this a long time ago after getting inspiration from a different MxR Fanfiction, I never posted it because I wasn't sure if it's any good. Please review. Musa starts off with an OC character, but rest assured I am a MxR fan at heart so she will PROBABLY end up with Riven. I have a lot more chapters, but I'm test-running this chapter first to see how it goes over with people so please review as your comments are very welcomed!**

Her blade clashed against the soft fabric of the dummy as she twirled around once more. Droplets were beginning to bead on her forehead and her eyes were pierced in determination. It was like there were blinders on the side of her head to keep her focused on the task ahead of her.

"Alpha?" a voice interrupted her forward momentum.

She spun around with rage rippling in her features. No one was to bother her while she was practicing, no one.

"What?" she seethed not bothering to see who the unlucky victim was.

"Cal wants to see you," the petit female with tan skin and light brown hair murmured with her head down. She had begged Cal to not make her go and bother Musa while she was training, but Cal had insisted and she always did what was ordered of her.

"Fine," Musa grumbled as she put down her two daggers. They were double-sided/bladed with a blade about ten inches in length. They were not the easiest to handle, but for Musa they were the weapon of choice. The handles and grips were made with black leather and each had a small ruby implanted at the bottom.

Musa sighed with frustration. She didn't really want to go to see Cal. He made her nervous. After he had made her Alpha over the others Cal had called on her even more than usual. He most likely had a mission for them.

"Flora, can you take these and put them with my suit?" Musa asked as she handed over the gruesome weapons.

Flora nodded and hurried away lest Musa decided she would take out more of her anger on Flora.

It was a year ago when Cal had decided Musa should be the leader. He saw determination, focus, and leadership in her. The others were great candidates, but none held the spark of anger that was hidden deep in Musa's heart.

* * *

Her anger was generated from witnessing her mother's death at the hands of the Red Fountain Specialists who were Magix's specialized fighting force. Musa was only around six years old, but she still remembered the day when the Specialists arrived at her house. She didn't know why they were there nor did she know why they had attacked. There were three of them and they had burst into the house to find her mother. She remembered the screams of her mother and the cries of distress. Her mother had yelled at her to run, afraid that the Specialists would take her daughter and torture her. Musa hid beneath the stairs, but to no avail. She was taken by the Specialists and on her way out the door, all she could see was the broken and beaten form of her mother. There was red everywhere including in Musa's revenge filled eyes that night. The men had taken her to The Complex at Red Fountain or Red Fountain or The Complex for short. She had been put into a small room with a bed and a desk. There was a stuffed animal on the bed and a few picture books on the desk.

"This will be your room," the man with the short black hair stated in a monotone voice.

Musa's hands were trembling as she looked around the room. She could still hear her mother's wails in her ears. She didn't know where her father was since he was at work when the Specialists had charged in.

Two of the men retreated outside the door while the man with the brown hair that ended at the ends of his ears stayed in the room. He went over to the desk and grabbed the first book on the pile.

"Do you want me to read you a story?" the man asked in a soothing voice.

Musa turned to look at the man. Her heart was already beginning to turn to stone and her eyes were hardening with each passing minute. She studied him for a few minutes making sure to have every detail and curve of his body concrete in her memory.

"Of course," she said in a cute voice, except underneath the disguise her voice was burning with hatred and threats.

Musa stayed in the room for twelve more years. She would occasionally be let out into the light. She was fed every day and was biding her time when she would strike out against her captors. She never forgot her mother; she refused to forget the jumbled mass that those three men had made her walk by on the way to her life of seclusion.

The man with the short black hair was named Gregory. The one with the long blond hair carried the name of Jack and the one with the brown hair was Luke.

Those were the men that killed her mother and each day she made sure that they would trust her more and more.

A week before that day she had snuck out of the room and down the hallway to the weapons room. There, she had found the two daggers that she still used to this day. She stashed them inside the small bag that she had brought along and put them under her pillow when she got back to her room. Now all she had to do was to wait.

"Musa?" the calming voice of Luke came through from behind the bolted door.

"Yes?" Musa called back sweetly, her hand tightening on the daggers.

The day was the anniversary of the day her mother was murdered. It was the anniversary of the day she was captured. It had been twelve years and that six year old girl had grown up with a heart of stone and a love for music. The Specialists had allowed there to be a piano in the corner of the room and throughout the years she had gained musical experience and more instruments.

"Greg, Jack and I are coming in," Luke stated.

Musa's hands were gripped on the daggers awaiting them to come in.

Once the door opened she struck. She stabbed, poked, prodded and pierced in their direction until all three bodies dropped at her feet. There was a lake of blood beginning to form underneath the pile.

That was the day her mother had died. That was the day she was captured. It was also the day she regained her freedom and took revenge on the men who were responsible for her mother's death.

* * *

Musa shuddered at the memory. Cal had enjoyed that anger that had grown in her heart since she was six. That was something the others had not possessed. Although the others were qualified for leader they did not have the burning hate for the Specialists that Musa had.

She walked down the eerie passage with gray walls before she got the nondescript door that would lead to Cal's office.

She opened the door before taking a deep breath and pushed her way into the grand office of the director of Hood, a group of thieves, assassins, and criminals.

"You wanted to see me Cal?" Musa asked hesitantly to the chair that was turned away from her.

The chair slowly turned around to reveal a man, not over the age of thirty with short dark brown hair. He had piercing blue eyes and his suit revealed how taut his muscles were.

"Musa," Cal drawled looking over at the petit female standing in front of him. He had always found her attractive, not just because of the rage and hatred she was manifesting, but also for her looks. She had long black hair and tan skin. Her eyes were a deep blue to the point where they looked navy. Musa stood silently in the center of the office with a slight glare on her face. He knew that she hated to be interrupted when she was training.

"Yes?" Musa asked with annoyance dripping off of her word.

"I have a mission for you," Cal replied with his eyebrow raised. Not many people dared to speak to him so blatantly, but that was what he liked about her, the brashness.

She quickly realized her mistake when he raised his eyebrow and dropped her head so that her sight was towards the floor.

"What is it?" she raised her eyes from the floor to focus on the man sitting in the chair.

"I need you to break into a particular safe," Cal said.

"Who called?" Musa questioned, curious about the origins of the caller. Hood may have been an organization for criminals, but it was a very organized group. Cal was the director and Musa headed the most specialized group of Hood agents. They would always get calls that would direct them to do the bidding of a wealthy employer. Occasionally they would get a call from the Magix government to assassinate a threat to the Magix community which is why the government rarely went after Hood and if they did it was without much effort. There were other groups of agents under Musa's, but hers was the most powerful and besides Cal, Musa was the next most powerful person in the organization.

"Someone who wishes to be unnamed," Cal shot back. Musa was always too curious for his taste, but despite that flaw she was almost flawless.

"Fine," Musa growled.

"Take your team and break into the safe and collect what you can find, our employer didn't give me the specifics. I'll send you the other directions and don't fuck it up," Cal retorted while he spun back around in his chair, dismissing her from the office. Okay so maybe she wasn't flawless. She talked back to authority too much for his liking.

Musa spun on her heel and walked out of the office. She headed over to the building where all of her team was stationed. They had dormitories and training rooms. They also had a Comms room and a weapons room. Basically the building held anything a spy could ever dream of.

"Stella," Musa greeted the tall, lanky blond that was lounging on the couch with the latest edition of Cosmo. Stella was twenty three and was one year older than Musa. After Musa had escaped, Stella was the one who had found Musa and had taken her to Hood's headquarters.

"Muse," Stella said without looking up. Musa cringed at the nickname Stella had given her.

"Can you get the others together? We have a mission," Musa said while looking down at the square device in front of her. She was awaiting Cal's instructions to pop up in the mail.

"Beta is here," Flora said as she walked out from the kitchen and into the living area, joining Musa.

"Omega in," Stella rolled her eyes at Flora's professionalism and slid off the couch to grab the others.

Stella came back with a shorter girl with flaming red hair, a girl with dark skin and chocolate brown hair, and a girl with short pink hair and a lanky physique.

"Delta present," the girl with the pink hair responded.

"Gamma," the dark skinned girl said.

"Zeta here," the red haired girl smiled. She was relatively new to Hood. Her name was Bloom. She had been there for two years, one less year than Musa, but two years was still new and she had never been called away for a killing job.

The girl with the pink hair was called Tecna. She was the Comms operator and occasional field agent.

The dark skinned girl was named Layla and she was primarily a field agent. She was the best fighter behind Musa.

Flora was medic of the group, but she was the best strategist.

Stella was a field agent. She was usually the one that got dressed up in the disguises since she was the best actress. Her and Bloom worked closely with each other and rarely got mixed up in the hardcore fighting, but were decent when they did fight.

All the girls had checked in with their code names.

"Alpha is in the building," Musa snickered.

The girls took their respective seats on the couch and chairs that were strewn about the lounge.

"Cal gave us a mission," Musa shuddered at the mention of the mysterious director.

"When are you two going to hook up? I mean it's been four years and you guys keep skittering around the subject," Stella piped up and got a pillow to the face for the outburst.

"Stella," Musa warned.

"Oh fine, but you know you guys have the hots for each other," Stella cried out exasperatedly and got a glare from the leader.

"Cal wants up to steal from a safe. We leave tonight for Sparx. We're going to complete it two nights from now so be ready and go get packed. Tecna, make sure that we have all of the technology that we need and check to make sure the suits are updated and contain everyone's equipment. Stella, check up on the disguises. We might need them. Flora do stock on the medical supplies and load them into the ship. Bloom and Layla, do the rest of the work like researching the safe, also help Tecna. I'm going to do an inventory on the weapons and load them on the ship. Okay go off and do the work," Musa ordered, dismissing them all. They all got up and scurried off to complete their respective jobs.

Musa sighed as she got off the chair. She had been there for four years and Cal had still not allowed her to seek revenge on the Red Fountain Specialists. Red Fountain had been in an uproar since their female prisoner had escaped and her face was flashed to multiple sources, but they never found her. After that Cal had made sure that all was "forgiven" or rather "forgotten" with the Magix government and the Specialists had stopped trying to hound her. Although she was able to kill the three men that had murdered her mother she still wanted to see the organization go up in flames.

* * *

"Shit," the man cursed under his breath.

"What?" the man with magenta hair asked, his voice raised in worry. It was not often that Timmy, his Comms man cursed.

"We have a problem," Timmy chuckled with concern.

"What's the problem?" Riven hissed.

"Hood," Timmy replied.

Riven's face contorted in disgust and revulsion. Riven was the leader of the elite Red Fountain Specialists. His hate for Hood extended into every cell of his body. He despised the Magix government for not doing anything about them, although if the Specialists ever caught a Hood agent the government would not disagree with Red Fountain holding the criminal. That is until the director of Hood called. The main enemy of the Specialists was Hood and vice versa.

"What are they up to and does it have to do with the Magix government because I would love to kick some Hood ass right now," Riven growled.

"They're breaking into some safe. We just got a call from the inside man. It doesn't have anything to do with Magix so we're going to be able to beat some Hood agents," Timmy smiled in pleasure.

"Great. What safe and when?" Riven asked.

Timmy read off the information he had gotten from the bugs in the Hood headquarters. An agent had been in and out of Hood a few days ago and had been able to get a bug in the two most important rooms without being suspected. The rooms being the lounge of the top group at Hood and the practice room of the top agent.

"Fuck," Timmy cursed again.

"What now?" Rive asked with his hand on his head.

"We lost contact," Timmy grumbled.

"What do you mean?" Riven asked this time with frustration lacing his tone.

"The agent found the bug," Timmy stated without emotion.

"Shit," Riven swore, "gather the guys. We're going after Hood."

"When do we leave?" Sky asked as he ran his hands through his blond locks.

"Tonight. We're going to have to guard the safe tomorrow night," Riven said.

"Does Magix know?" Brandon asked. He had short brown hair and was the expert swordsman.

"Yes," Riven replied, "Timmy's coming too although he won't be joining us in the field. I need Helia and Nabu to stay here."

"What?" both Helia and Nabu exclaimed.

"I need you to stay here unless more important missions from Magix show up. Remember we're not exactly on the clock for this mission," Riven stated.

"Fine," Nabu mumbled.

"Good, let's get everything together then," Riven growled as he turned around and left the room.

Tomorrow was the night that he could kick some Hood ass and maybe find the girl that had escaped The Complex, although it might be harder since she had matured since he had seen her six year old picture flashed on the screen of every Magix TV for a few months. The Specialists had unfortunately never had a picture of her when she was older so they used the photo of her when she was a toddler, hoping that she still looked relatively the same.

* * *

"Are we ready?" Musa asked.

"Yes," Tecna replied.

"Let's go then," Musa ordered.

* * *

"God damn it," Layla growled.

"What?" Musa turned to look at her fighting expert. Flora, Bloom and Tecna had stayed behind in the makeshift Comms room so only Layla and Stella were with Musa.

"Specialists," Layla seethed as she stared at the hallway in front of the vault. The girls had on their black bodysuits. They were equipped with weapons and were fireproof among other things. The suits were the highest tech of technology thanks to Tecna's technology skills.

"Time to change," Musa sighed as she pressed a small button in the side of the suit. In a matter of seconds all of the girls suits had turned to a guard's uniform.

Riven saw three girls in front of the vault. They all had on uniforms, but were lacking name tags which was a huge red flag.

"Ladies," Riven sidled up to the group. Sky and Brandon were behind him and had also noticed the lack of name tags.

"What can we do for you?" Musa asked sweetly. Her hands were behind her back and she was giving small signals to Stella and Layla.

"We have come to relieve you of your posts," Riven stated.

"We've been ordered by the Magix government to guard this safe, so how do we know you're not the criminals we're supposed to be looking out for?" Musa asked suspiciously while raising her eyebrow.

Riven, Sky and Brandon all took out their badges and handed them to Musa.

She looked them over. They were definitely forged and Musa could depict the tiny Red Fountain symbol in the corner of the badges.

"Sorry boys. I don't think we can just leave," Musa smiled at the trio as she gave them back the badges.

Sky gave a look to Riven and mouthed 'I think they're the Hood agents'.

Musa had seen this exchange and immediately put her hands behind her back. Her fingers were in a V-shape for wait for my command then attack.

"Sorry girls, I don't think you're fighting for the right team," Riven chuckled lightly. His left hand moved over to the area where his own dagger was hidden and his right hand clenched into a perfectly formed fist.

"Now," Riven yelled.

Musa pointed one finger down to the ground 'attack'.

At once all six charged forward. Musa quickly tripped the brown haired guy with a swift kick to the ankles. He would have no chance against Stella who loved tripping people Musa thought as she gave a loud cackle.

The blond rushed her with a sword in his hand. She grabbed her daggers from her side and at the last second counterattacked his sword with the daggers.

She lashed out and caught his arm with one of the daggers. The red liquid began to pool on his arm from the wound.

All of a sudden a well aimed fist landed in the middle of her back sending her forward.

To counter the forward momentum she did a sommersault and jumped up to face her attacker. In front of her was the loud mouthed magenta haired man.

"You look familiar," the man noted suspiciously.

Musa charged him with one blade in front and the other behind her. He blocked the first blade with his own and barely dodged the flying blade of the other dagger.

"You're pretty good for a girl," Riven laughed. Adrenaline began kicking into his system. The dagger had come a little too close for his comfort, but the girl would be easy to detain once he figured out her fighting style.

"You talk too much," Musa growled as she threw a well aimed kick at his leg.

His leg buckled in, but before he could fall he jumped, rolled and ended up behind her.

"I like talking to my victims before I arrest them," Riven grinned.

"I'm not a victim," Musa hissed.

"Could've fooled me," Riven laughed as he pinned Musa to the wall. He made sure to lock her arms at her side and placed his knife on the edge of her neck. Every time she would swallow she would feel the sharpness of the blade pressing into her trachea.

"Let me go," Musa grimaced as the knife pushed into her throat.

"Why?" Riven chuckled. She hated his arrogance. He reminded her of Gregory. He was always arrogant.

Musa's brain was rattling off ideas on how to get loose, but she could only think of one that would get him to release her quick enough. It's not like she wanted to, but even Stella would do this if she were in a jam. Hell, it was Stella who had told her about this trick.

Musa lowered her eyelids to produce a smoldering look. Riven was slightly taken aback by her. She batted her eyelids and attempted to lean forward. Their faces were so close their noses touched.

God help me she thought as she went for it. She pressed her lips firmly on his. He responded like she expected he would and released her arms, his first mistake. Then to get a better grip on her he released the knife from her throat, his last mistake. As soon as she felt the pressure leave her arms she lashed out and delivered a perfectly timed punch to the gut.

"Why are men so easily seduced?" she cackled as he began to get up.

He stood up and glared at her. He was still out of breath and his stomach was flaring in pain.

"That was low," Riven growled.

"You responded," Musa shrugged as she clutched her daggers in her hand waiting for his strike.

Riven lunged at her with his left hand holding the knife behind his back and his clenched fist in front. Musa yawned slightly and sidestepped the move. As she moved to the side she kicked out at him and hit him in the leg. He lost his balance and landed on his back. She went up to him and leaned down.

"Not very fun when you're the one who's trapped is it?" she asked giving him a pouty face.

"Shut up," he yelled as he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her down on the ground. She landed beside him and was shocked at first. He kicked her in the gut and managed to get on his feet. Now she was the one writhing in pain beneath him.

"That was low," she mocked him. She looked over to where the others were fighting and saw that Layla had taken on the other two boys. The vault was slightly open and Musa laughed silently since she knew Stella was stealing what needed to be stolen.

Riven saw the small smirk on Musa's face and wondered what the hell there was to be laughing about considering she was under his wrath now.

"By the country of Magix you are under-" he trailed off as he noticed Musa was no longer in front of him on the floor.

"Missed me?" a voice whispered in his ear.

He spun around and didn't see anything. Then there was impact to his head and everything went black.

Musa looked down at the wilted figure that was in front of her. Too bad he's a Specialist she thought.

Musa looked to her right and saw Layla and Stella giving her thumbs up. The mission had been completed and the other Specialists were laying in heaps much like the magenta haired one. It was time to go.

"Alpha this is Delta. There is a patrol of security coming your way. Retreat quickly," Musa heard from her earpiece.

"Alpha to Delta. Mission accomplished," Musa smirked as Layla, Stella and her silently crept away with the goodies that Stella had found in the safe.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So, I wasn't lying when I had said I had written a lot. Anyways, this is all I have written up to now and I'm not sure if I should continue with it. I have some chapters that are for the future of this story written, but what I may do (because I'm kind of lazy and stuck on this story) is just have a major timeline jump to the future and just kind of explain what I had wanted to happen in between. Then go back and write in those parts when I have time and the energy to do so. This is more of a preview of a larger novel that I'm doing where this story will be reviewed and edited like crazy so this isn't the finishing touches. I'm sorry if it seems choppy and then if I add the future chapters, but at least you'll have a preview of what it will be like in the future.**

If you haven't read the A/N, you better read it, NOW! Seriously guys, it's actually pretty important.

"Here," Musa grumbled as she lifted the bag onto Cal's desk. She hadn't bothered to look inside since she wouldn't be able to keep any of it, but Stella had said that there were just multiple black steel boxes in the safe.

"What's wrong?" Cal asked pointedly, knowing that Musa was obviously upset over something.

"Nothing," Musa mumbled as she turned to leave. Cal latched onto her arm and pulled her back to the desk.

"Musa," Cal chided.

"Stop," Musa said as she rubbed her shoulder. She was still sore seeing that it had only been two days since she had fought the Specialist.

"Musa," Cal warned.

"Fine," she sighed exasperatedly, "we fought the Specialists."

"You what?" Cal asked. Cal knew her history with the group and he didn't like them any more than she did.

"They bugged the lounge and my training room," Musa hissed. She hadn't been too happy when she had found the wireless devices in the rooms. Whoever had put them there had been an amateur though since they had hidden them in plain sight.

"Well?" Cal questioned.

"One of them reminded me of Greg," Musa growled at the thought of the slain Specialist.

Although he wasn't one for emotions, the girl in front of him meant more to him than anyone knew. She may have been cold and empty, but she was also just like him. They both had passion for what they believed in and they hated authority figures, being ironic because they were authority figures. They also detested when people made stupid mistakes and were fierce when it came to loyalty and protecting teammates.

He reached out and pulled her into a hug. He knew what the memory of the three specialists meant. It meant that she would have to replay the thought of her mother getting murdered over and over again in her head. His shoulder began to dampen with her tears.

"Musa," he cooed.

He leaned back to look at her. Her eyes searched his and his eyes searched hers and before either of them knew it their lips were upon the others. Her hands found his neck and his found her back. His tongue gently poked her lips asking for permission to enter and her body readily gave it to him. He turned her around to that she was leaning on the desk.

Then she pulled back regretfully.

"Cal," Musa panted seeing that she was completely out of breath.

He put his finger to her lips to quiet her down.

"We shouldn't do this," he breathed quietly, disappointment hanging in each word.

"No we shouldn't," she agreed.

Then, as quickly as they had said the words, their lips were once more locked together. Each set of hands were exploring the other body with curiosity. Each body knew that what they were doing was wrong and would eventually end with consequences, but in that moment both forgot. Musa forgot about the anxiety she felt when she was around Cal and Cal forgot that he was her mentor and the director.

They pulled apart again, this time in mutual agreement.

Musa looked up at him and into his eyes which were glazed over. She knew she would regret this in the morning, but she grabbed his hand gently and pulled him to the door of his office.

"What are you-" Cal was interrupted by Musa.

"Just come on," Musa whispered.

She leaned out of the office to check and make sure no one was in the hallway and then quickly led him through the halls to the thick oak door that was in a corridor that branched out from the main passageway. The door was the only thing in the hall. It was the door to her room. Cal raised his eyes in surprise. He had only been in there a few times and he hadn't been back in a while, in fact he hadn't been back since he had named her leader of her team. Musa opened the door quickly and led him inside.

Once they were both in she closed the door. He looked around the room. It was mainly as he remembered it. Her main weapons were in the drawers of the oak dresser. It was a dummy dresser. All of her regular clothes were housed in the two walk in closets. Off to the right was another walk in closet that held her operation clothes. Centered on the back wall was her bed. It was a king-sized bed. The sheets underneath the white comforter were dark blue as he remembered them. She guided him over to the bed. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers once again. They knew each other's bodies relatively well and she started to unbutton the long sleeved striped collared shirt that he was wearing. Her fingers were fumbling with the small buttons and her heart was racing. Musa knew that if anyone found out it would be hell for her. She also knew that it wasn't as easy anymore since he had made her leader. She finally got the last button loose and he shouldered out of the shirt. His hands were entwined with her hair and hers were admiring the defined ridges in his stomach. He was very muscular and one could tell with the muscles in his abdomen. He untangled his fingers and reached for the bottom of her t-shirt. She hadn't felt like wearing anything special, especially since there were still a few bruises from where the Specialist had hit her and there were a few cuts from where his knife had grazed her skin. Cal lifted the shirt above Musa's head and threw it to the ground beside them. He gently pushed her back onto the bed and crawled up to be above her.

"What are we doing?" he whispered, his lips brushing hers.

"I have no idea," she said as he felt her lips pull up into a smile.

He looked down at her bare chest, minus the black bra, and saw the bruises and healing cuts. Cal gently stroked one of the larger bruises.

"You didn't tell me you got injured," he mumbled, concern dripping in his voice.

"You didn't ask," she replied simply.

He leaned down again and his lips found hers once more.

"Are you sure?" he asked hesitantly as he dragged his lips away from hers.

She gave a small nod.

Each one of them thinking _fuck, we're at it again._

* * *

"Morning," Cal whispered as Musa began to rub the sleep from her eyes.

She was fully enclosed by the warm sheets of her bed. Her body was wrapped up in Cal's arms and her head had been lying on his bare shoulder.

"Morning," she yawned.

He looked down at her and gave her a small peck on the lips.

"Don't you have work?" Musa asked, tracing circles nonchalantly on his defined abdomen.

"Don't you have work?" he retorted gently.

"Ugh! What did we do?" she suddenly exclaimed as she buried her face into his chest.

"Do I need to answer that question?" he asked with a grin.

"Shut up," she said as she slapped him on his shoulder.

She removed her face from his chest and sat up in the bed, pulling one of the sheets over her own bare chest.

"If any of them find out-" Musa trailed off in panic.

"Musa," Cal began.

"If Stella finds out I'll never hear the end of it," Musa cried out.

"Musa," Cal said again, this time with more force to his voice.

"We shouldn't have done that. I mean the other times…You're the director. I'm supposed to be your second in command not your fuck buddy," Musa furiously cursed herself. She was completely oblivious to the body that sat up beside her.

"Musa," Cal yelled.

As if woken from a trance Musa stopped rambling and looked over to her bed companion.

"What?" Musa asked with heat rising to her cheeks. She could see the red on her face from her peripheral vision.

"No one's going to find out," Cal stated.

"How do you know?" Musa asked pointedly.

"I just know okay?" he said as he ran his hand through his hair. He was as nervous as she was if it were to get out that they had been sleeping together.

She reached over and grabbed his hand. She could feel it shaking in her palm and knew that he was anxious as well. She gave a sigh and began to play with his fingers.

"Why can't life be simpler?" she asked, immediately knowing the answer.

"Because it's us," Cal answered. He reached over and pulled her closer to him, instantly feeling the warmth that was radiating from her body.

"I wish it were easier," she huffed as she laid her head to rest on his shoulder.

"Well unfortunately for souls like us, it's not going to be," he said. He began to stroke her arm as they sat in the bed together.

"I need to go debrief the girls," Musa said, unwilling to separate from him.

"Do you really need to go?" he complained.

"Cal," Musa chided.

"Fine."

Musa unhooked herself from his grasp and rolled out of bed with a sheet covering her body.

"You know, you shouldn't feel uncomfortable around me, after all I did see what was underneath that sheet," Cal winked seductively at Musa.

She turned around and threw his shirt at him. It landed on top of his head and covered his eyes. When he had finally gotten the shirt off of his face Musa was already half dressed. She was looking in her closet for her Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirt and was becoming annoyed when she couldn't find it. She had already found her black sweatpants, but the shirt was nowhere in sight.

Cal got out of the bed to dress himself as well. He went over to the walk in closet next to Musa and went in. On the back wall were some extra suits of his in case he ever "visited" Musa.

"Cal?" Musa called out when she didn't see him in the bed.

"Yeah?" he asked as he walked out of the closet fully dressed in an all black suit with a white and light blue pin striped collared shirt.

"Can you help me put this on my back?" Musa asked as she handed him a bottle of Arnica. The stuff was a cream substance that helped heal bruises quickly. In her other hand was the t-shirt that she had been looking for.

He squirted some of the topical cream onto his hand and rubbed it into her back on top of the bruises, making sure he didn't press to hard.

She cringed when he got to the bruise in the middle of her back.

"How'd they get you here?" he asked curiously.

"Surprise attack. I was busy fighting one of them and another came up behind me and got me in my back," Musa replied.

He gave her back the bottle of cream and she put her t-shirt on over her head.

"How're you going to get out?" Musa softly inquired.

"You forget that I was the architect for this building," he scolded.

She looked at him with a puzzled look. He rolled his eyes and pointed towards the back wall.

"What?" she asked quizzically.

"There's a door there," he stated.

"Right," she laughed sarcastically.

"Seriously. Look," he said as he walked over to the walk and gave a small push revealing a small corridor with a door at the end.

"Where's that lead to?" she wondered out loud.

"My office," he turned back to her with a thousand watt grin.

"Ow," he muttered as she punched him in the shoulder.

"Really?" she exclaimed with slight anger.

"Why's that a bad thing?"

"You have a passage that leads from your office to my room?" she incredulously gasped.

"It's really not what it looks like. This was supposed to be my room before I had the other one built," he chuckled at her reaction, "besides you should be thrilled that we can visit each other whenever we want without anyone knowing."

"Whatever," she mumbled as she turned around.

Before she could go he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his chest. He leaned down and gave her a passionate kiss before letting go and entering the passage.

* * *

"I'm telling you Musa, Cal and you would be awesome," Stella giggled while emphasizing awesome.

"Stella, stop. Cal and I are not a thing and will never be a thing. He's our boss. Plus he's like twenty years older than I am," Musa grumbled, inwardly giggling at the fact that they were together last night.

"Musa! You know he's not twenty years older. That would be gross. He's only two years older than I am which means he's only twenty five so he's three years older than you. He's perfect for you," Stella exclaimed with passion. She believed it was her life's goal to get Musa to be happy with some guy. God knows that Stella would hook up with the occasional male specimen and she couldn't believe that Musa hadn't yet.

"Stella!" Musa roared.

"Uh, fine," Stella retorted as she went back to reading Lucky Magazine.

Tecna walked into the kitchen with Bloom and went to the fridge.

"Musa?" Tecna asked nervously, knowing that if Musa was upset it was not good to get on her bad side.

"Yeah?" Musa mumbled through a mouth full of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

"Cal's looking for you. Said that another mission's come up," Tecna said, relieved that Musa didn't seem like she was in a bad mood.

"Musa, now's your chance," Stella smiled from the opposite side of the table.

"One day Stella…One day," Musa glowered at the blond before she got up and put her bowl in the sink.

"I'll be back for briefing," Musa nodded to all three in farewell.

* * *

"What did you call me for?" Musa asked, leaning against the door to the office.

Cal was sitting in the chair and was typing away at his computer.

"Come over here," he ordered.

Musa rolled her eyes, but began walking towards his desk.

"What?" she asked again.

He got out of the chair and leaned over and kissed her smack dab on the lips.

"That and I have a mission," he murmured his lips nanometers away from hers.

"What's the mission?" she asked pulling her face to inches away from his.

"I'm afraid you're not going to like this one very much and you know I wouldn't give it to you unless I had to. You're my best agent and you lead my best team and you're also very sexy," he said, giving her a wink, "but I wouldn't ask you unless I had to."

"What is it?" she groaned, knowing full well that she would be outraged in a few seconds with the assignment.

"Magix government called. They need my best agent to work with the Red Fountain Specialists. Seems a group hacked into their system and they needed a consultant on what to do. They asked us because who better to track thieves than thieves?" he said slowly and cautiously awaiting Musa's reaction to the news.

"Specialists?" Musa spat.

"Yes. I need to send you because you're the best we've got. Please Musa, for me?" he asked hopefully.

"Cal," Musa growled, not exactly angry with him as much as the task at hand, "you know how I feel about them," she hissed.

"Musa, I know. It's just one mission."

"But Cal-" Musa whined for once in her life.

"Musa," Cal began.

"Ugh! Fine!" she screamed in angst. She really did not want to work with Specialists. They were the reason she was deemed a thief in the first place. They were the reason she had been trained to kill and the reason she _liked_ killing. She didn't want to like it, but ever since she was six she had been apathetic to emotion that is until Cal and the girls, but that's a different story.

"I'll send you the details," Cal called to her back as she stormed out of his office.

* * *

"Arghh!" Musa shouted in the lounge in frustration.

"Now what?" Layla asked, walking around the corner. She stood and watched while Musa paced agitatedly around the lounge.

"Get the team in here now," Musa demanded as she continued to pace the floor.

The girls quickly gathered seeing how Musa was in an agitated mood.

"I'm going on a solo mission. While I'm gone, listen to Cal please. I will need Tecna providing me Comms and Layla as backup in case anything goes wrong, though I doubt it will considering I'll be working with the Red Fountain Specialists," Musa gritted through her teeth.

"What?" Stella exclaimed. Everyone in the room had a beef with the Specialists in one way or another.

"Someone hacked into a database and gained top secret files. Magix wants a thief to consult with Red Fountain so they can catch the thief. Cal's sending me," Musa grumbled through a clenched jaw.

"Why would Cal send you? He knows about…" Layla trailed off. Everyone in the room went silent. It was almost a written rule to never bring up Musa's past even though everybody knew it.

Layla held her breath in anticipation for the shit storm that she had conjured up.

"Layla, I need you to go work on your skills. You're attacking too late and you're hands are too slow to parry anybody's move. Also you should work on your low kicks, they aren't going where they are aimed to go," Musa said calmly, trying to keep a cool head on her shoulders.

Layla nodded and rushed out of the room before Musa could say anything else.

"Tecna," Musa said while turning towards the pink haired girl, "I need you to collect the gear that I'll need. The rest of you come with me, I'm still running the class," Musa said turning on her heel and heading for her training room not bothering to see if the rest of the girls were following. Today was the day that she had promised the weaker fighters to teach them some new skills and to work with them so they could get better.

Once she arrived she pushed open the door and went to wrap up her hands. She changed into her black gym shorts and a neon green sports bra with a black pinny that had the Hood logo on it in neon blue.

"Musa?" Stella questioned hesitantly. The last time Stella had seen Musa so upset was when the team had almost died and not made it back to headquarters which hadn't happened in over a year.

"Stella, I'm fine, really. You guys need to train and as leader I'm responsible for helping you," Musa said not looking behind her at Stella, "go get ready. It's going to be a long day."

* * *

Musa had just finished knocking Bloom to the ground.

"You can't open up your body like that in these types of situations. It'd be too easy for me to clip you in the gut which I just did to knock the wind out of your system. Always keep one hand in front or an object in front so that you can block my move," Musa scolded Bloom. She reached down with her right hand to help the winded warrior up to her feet.

"Sorry Musa," Bloom faintly whispered, the air still not completely getting to her lungs.

"Don't say sorry. You're somewhat new to this," Musa said as she hopped out of the ring. She had taught various moves and techniques that day and she was tired.

"Musa," a voice drawled from the shadows of the hallway she had passed on the way to her room. The girls had filed out of the training room before Musa and were probably in their dormitories already.

"Who is it?" Musa asked, her hands coming up as fists and her legs going into a defensive stance.

"Relax it's me," Cal said as he stepped out from the shadows.

Musa dropped her hands and they hung limply at her waist. She was still a little upset that Cal was making her go on the mission.

"What're you doing here?" Musa asked her voice steely.

"Are you still mad at me?" he wondered.

"Sort of," she grumbled.

"Musa I wouldn't send you if I didn't have to," Cal stated with frustration.

"I know that it's just…you know how I feel about them…You know what I've wanted to do to them," Musa stuttered.

"I know," he hung his head, "I have just the thing that would cheer you up," he said as his eyes lightened up.

"What's that?" she skeptically inquired.

"Come to the Magix Ball with me. I have an undercover operation that was specifically asked of me and I need some backup. I was going to go in alone with Comms, but if you're there I won't need it."

"You should take Stella. I'm not much of a disguise guru," Musa assumed.

"I'd rather take you. Stella's too Stella-y," he laughed.

"Fine, I'll go, but if I have to continuously save your ass I may just kick it myself."

"Hm feisty today are we?" he teased.

"Just a little."

"The dress is in your room. I took it upon myself to believe that you would, out of the goodness of your heart, agree to go so I delivered it to your room a few hours ago," he chuckled.

"And if I had said no?" she posed the question with her hands crossed in front of her chest and her eyebrow raised.

"Then I would have looked foolish running down the hallway towards your room."

"Go get ready. I'll be done in a few," Musa giggled as she left his side.

* * *

"I can't believe you got me this one," Musa grumbled, "there's no way that I'll be able to fight in this and you know it."

"I tried to get one that would cover your suit, sorry," Cal laughed at the annoyed girl standing beside him.

She was dressed in a long fitted column dress. It was a blue and teal colored dress that was fitted at the top and had a flowing skirt for the bottom. All over the top was a squiggly pattern in white and silver sequins. It had long sleeves to hide her suit underneath.

"Whatever," Musa rolled her eye, "so what are we doing here anyways?"

"We got a call from one of our loyal customers claiming that his life is on the line and he needed extra eyes in the crowd," Cal shrugged.

"That's not usually what we do," Musa said skeptically.

"Well I guess he believes that Red Fountain soldiers are being sent after him."

"Why?"

"I don't know. He was very unclear on the specifics. He basically believes that Magix is trying to kill him off and because they know he heavily invests in us they decided not to go with us on this job."

"I didn't think Specialists were the type to assassinate," Musa mused.

"You'd be surprised by their history," Cal replied softly.

"I'm not really surprised by anything they do," Musa said while the look in her eyes darkened. She looked about the grand ballroom. There were many people there and she could make out the important diplomats and wealthy guests.

"Do I get to know who the client is so that I can keep tabs on him?" Musa asked turning towards Cal.

"It's Cris Harmony," Cal whispered in her ear as Mr. Harmony passed by and gave Cal a nod.

"Isn't he the most influential person of the neighboring country of Melody?" Musa whispered back.

"Yes he is," Cal stated.

"What would Magix want with him? And since when does Hood do the right thing?"

"I think Magix is planning on doing a takeover of Melody and they need him, dead or alive. You'd be surprised on how many good things Hood has done. I asked you because you're my best agent and because you'd probably be able to understand the most that the government of Magix is not the cleanest organization. Sometimes I think they're worse than Hood."

Musa nodded and turned to scan the ballroom once more. Then she saw it. The dark magenta hair was undeniable and it was just peeking over a head of blond hair.

"I see Specialists," Musa hissed to Cal, "I think it's their top team. It's the ones my team fought."

"Where?" Cal asked quietly.

"Straight ahead," Musa mumbled.

Riven had just gotten his assignment that night and he had brought Sky with him while the others were scoping out the exits. The girl on his arm was demanding and he regretted even bothering to ask her, but he was undercover.

"We should dance," the girl giggled through the palm of her hand.

"I can't. I'm busy," Riven growled a warning.

"Busy with what?" the girl snarked.

"Something. Why don't I find us something to drink?" Riven asked removing himself from the clutches of her hands. Riven gave a nod to Sky and both fanned out across the ballroom. The mission was simple and it came from Magix's highest of the high: Capture Cris Harmony, dead or alive. Their explanation was because he was a spy and was looking for intel to bring back to Melody so that they could attack Magix.

Riven never questioned what he was told to do and figured that Magix wouldn't have called on the Specialists for such a gruesome mission if it hadn't been for the fact that they needed them.

His eyes roamed the ballroom until they fell on a beautiful girl in a blue dress. He could only see her back. Her hair was straight and it fell almost to her lower back. She was slim and he could tell that she was very much in shape. Then he scrunched his eyes in annoyance when he saw the man that she was with. The man was tall and Riven could tell that muscles were rippling underneath the black suit he was wearing. He had brown hair and blue eyes. The man was looking towards Riven when he leaned down to whisper in the girl's ear.

_Wonder who they are_ Riven thought. He had never seen the man before and most of the people at the ball were on the pictures and cards he had studied. The girl, he couldn't see that well since she still had her back towards them.

"Riven to Timmy," Riven whispered into the device at the end of the sleeve of his blazer.

"Timmy to Riven what?" Riven heard through the earpiece.

"Are you able to get cameras on a certain couple? The girl's wearing a blue dress. She has black hair. The man's wearing a black suit and he has brown hair. If you have eyes on me then they shouldn't be too far away."

"I've got them," Timmy responded.

"Keep your eye on what they do and report back to me," Riven ordered.

Riven looked over at the attractive couple once more and got an uneasy feeling in his stomach about their intentions.

"He's looking this way," Cal had whispered in her ear.

Musa had nodded and they had pretended to be speaking to each other before the Specialist had finally walked away.

"Their Comms man probably has the camera on us," Musa told Cal.

"I figured as much," Cal alleged.

"What now? Harmony is going to get jumped any minute," Musa assumed.

"Not when he's with his security."

"When is he not with his security?" Musa asked.

"When he-" Cal trailed off.

"Shit," Musa said reading Cal's mind.

"We need to go," Cal rushed out as he grabbed her hand and led her quickly to the exit towards the bathrooms.

Musa, along the way, scanned the ballroom, but she couldn't see the magenta haired or the blond haired Specialists.

_Fuck_ she thought silently to herself.

They reached the bathrooms and Harmony's security were standing in front of the door.

"Where is he?" Cal asked urgently.

"Who are you?" one of the guards scrutinized them.

"Hood," Cal growled warningly.

"In there," the security guard pointed to the entrance to the bathroom.

Cal and Musa burst into the room in the nick of time.

"You!" Musa yelled at the magenta haired Specialist. He was attempting to tie up the squirming Cris Harmony who had the unfortunate luck of having duck tape over his mouth.

"Thought you looked familiar," Riven smirked as he finished tying the last of the ropes around Harmony and turned to face the couple he had had suspicions about.

Cal broke off from Musa's side and began circling the blond haired specialist. He figured Musa would want revenge on the bruises that she had acquired from the man she was currently yelling at.

Musa quickly ripped off the dress, thanks to the side zipper, revealing her black supersuit.

"I think I owe you for that nice bruise I got on my head last time," Riven gave a manic laugh.

"I still think you talk too much," Musa snarled as her hands moved down to her side where her daggers had been hidden.

"It's enjoyable to piss people off," Riven barked as he lunged at her. He had removed the knife from its sheath while they had been talking and now held it out pointing at her.

He heard noises from behind him and assumed that Sky was fighting the guy with the brown hair.

Musa ducked his attack and while doing so kicked high and made contact with his chest throwing him into one of the stall doors.

"You seem to be out of focus," Musa laughed manically.

Riven got up and sent an evil glare her way. He turned to look at how Sky was faring, or how he was not faring. The brown hair guy looked like he was fighting with ease while Sky was battered and blood was running out of random places.

"Oof," Riven exclaimed as he was thrown off his feet and went crashing into the wall.

"You really should learn to concentrate," Musa grinned. She had both daggers out now and held them lightly in her hands.

She had seen him glance over to where Cal and the blond haired Specialist were fighting and had figured it would be a good time to strike.

"That was low," Riven grimaced at the cut on his forearm.

"That sounds like déjà vu," Musa smiled happily.

Riven lunged at her again only before he could make it, there was a huge impact to his head and everything went black. The last thing he saw before he went out was Musa waving.

"I could have done that," Musa turned towards Cal with annoyance laced in her features.

"I know, you guys were just bickering too much," Cal retorted.

"Fine, let's just get out of here," Musa said going over to Harmony. She bent down and took the duck tape off.

"Thank you so much. I knew I could count on you guys," Harmony gushed.

"You paid us. You better leave with your security. I'm sure these guys had back up and once they wake up they'll be back," Cal said as he pointed to the sleeping figures of the Specialists. He had a few bruises where one of them had been able to get through his defenses, but the other guy was much worse.

"Cal, could you get my dress if it's not too ruined?" Musa called out to him. She was still struggling with one of the knots.

Cal walked over and grabbed the blue dress from the floor. Luckily it had not ripped nor gotten trampled on during the fight.

"You know you look very familiar," Harmony said looking at Musa.

"I doubt it," Musa shrugged the comment off.

"You remind me of our former queen on Melody," Harmony said.

"There, you better go," Musa quickly informed him once she had gotten the last knot out.

"Thank you again," the wealthy businessman said as he rushed out of the bathroom.

"Here," Cal handed her the dress.

"Thanks," Musa replied with a yawn.

She stepped into it and zipped it up, making sure that the supersuit she wore underneath it did not show.

"We better get going," Cal mumbled looking down at the two knocked out figures.

"Let's go," Musa said grabbing Cal's wrist and pulling him out of the bathroom.

She checked the hallway to make sure the coast was clear before they walked out. They easily were able to exit the party without anyone finding out. Meanwhile the two Specialists had woken up in the bathroom, but unfortunately for them Musa and Cal were long gone by then.

"Who were they?" Sky asked rubbing the cut on his forehead.

"Hood agents. I recognized the female from when we were protecting the safe," Riven cringed at the memory. He had suffered two broken ribs and a major headache from fighting with her and he could tell that he would suffer even more after tonight.

"You mean when we didn't protect the safe. I can't believe they were able to get through us," Sky muttered.

"Neither can I. They've obviously had tons of training," Riven harked, his hand rubbing the cut on the side of his cheek.

"We better get back to The Complex. Maybe Timmy found them on camera and we can identify them," Sky said as he attempted to get up.

"I sure hope so," Riven growled.

* * *

"So when am I leaving?" Musa asked as she changed into her shorts and extra large t-shirt.

"Tomorrow," Cal said. He was leaning against the entrance to the closet where Musa was changing. He had already changed into his own shorts. He shivered at the draft that was coming from the closet and the fact that he didn't have a t-shirt on.

"Great," Musa sarcastically replied.

"Musa, it won't be as bad as you think it's going to be," Cal reassured her.

"I think it will be. You know, if you were any other person I would scream and probably slap you for making me do this," she ridiculed.

"I know," Cal said as he pulled her to him. They had gotten back from their mission minutes ago and were standing in Musa's room.

"Tecna will be backing you up on Comms and Layla will be on standby in case it's needed," Cal spoke as he rested his chin on her head. The heat that was coming off of her warmed his bare chest.

"I know, it's just that…ugh," she groaned.

"You hate The Complex and it's going to be dangerous sending you with all things considered," he finished for her.

"Exactly," she mumbled through his chest.

"Come on, I think we both could use some sleep," Cal said softly leading her to the bed.

They both snuggled up underneath the covers. His arms were wrapped around her body.

"You owe me for this," Musa whispered.

"Go to bed," Cal reproached her.

* * *

"Is everything I need here?" Musa asked looking at Tecna who was scurrying around the Comms room attempting to get everything set up.

"Should be," Tecna aimlessly replied.

Musa sighed and shook her head at the busy agent. Musa had trained with Cal in the morning and could already feel the lactic acid in her body beginning to take its toll on her muscles.

If there were anyone at Hood that rivaled Musa's own fighting skills it was Cal who was much better than her. Of course he had more rage and pain inside him than Musa contained, but she had never bothered to ask him what it was.

"Musa?" Tecna asked awakening Musa from her thoughts.

"Yeah Tec?" Musa questioned, using Tecna's nickname.

"You're going to need this. Flora dropped it off before she went out with Stella and Bloom. Cal gave them an assignment for while you're gone," Tecna replied handing over a bag of medical supplies.

Musa peeked her head into the bag. Inside were fabric strips to wrap sprained limbs, alcohol to clean cuts, wipes and gauze pads to clean and stop bleeding, and many bottles of ibuprofen, advil, and arnica. Musa smiled inwardly at Flora's thoughtfulness. If there were any people that she wasn't emotionless towards it was her team and Cal.

They were the only people that Musa had found that she truly cared for.

"Thanks Tec," Musa said as she walked out of the room. She left the bag with the other technological devices. Some agent from the lower divisions would pack the bike for her.

"That was a hell of a fight," Cal said as she passed him. There was a teasing twinkle in his eye. Like Musa he rarely showed any kind of emotion which, in his division, helped since most agents were afraid to question him and like Musa he really only cared for a few people, one of those people being Musa.

"Really, you could have gone easier," Musa complained while rolling her shoulder to stretch it. He had clipped her pretty good on the right side and she could feel it in her body.

"You need to be wary of surprise attacks. It'll be your downfall and it is your weakness," he rebuked.

"And you need to work on covering your abdomen. It's one of the weakest areas and yet I got you there five times," she snapped.

He gave her a wry smile and she returned it. Next thing you know their lips were locked and hands were fumbling around each other.

Musa finally pulled away, albeit very slowly and unwillingly.

"We really shouldn't be doing this out in the hall where anyone can see us," she chided.

"No we shouldn't," Cal agreed.

Musa looked down at the high tech watch that was located on her wrist.

"Shit," she cursed.

"What?" he asked.

"I have to go. The bike should be ready by now," Musa said as she rested her head on his chest in angst.

"Just remember, it's not as bad as it seems," Cal soothed.

"You sound like a therapist and you know as well as I do that it will be worse than it seems," she shot back.

"Be good," he teased.

"Whatever," she growled as she turned to go. Before she could go, Cal latched onto her wrist and pulled her back.

"Don't get yourself killed please," he shamelessly begged while looking into her eyes. He gave her a last sweet soft kiss on the lips before letting her go.

She nodded at him and then walked towards the elevator.

When she got to the garage she found her bike was packed up and ready to go. She grabbed the supersuit that was laying on the bike and went to change.

_It's going to be a long mission _she thought.

* * *

"Riven," the man in front of him finally spoke.

Riven was in the audience of the Magix director of intelligence himself.

"I'm going to ignore the fact that you let Cris Harmony get away considering you still run the best team at The Complex. I have an assignment for you that is very important and that you shouldn't screw up. A few weeks ago, the Magix government system was hacked. We don't know who did it, but they stole some very important files that our own technology agents are unable to retrieve. We need you to find the people that did this and get them to give the files back. I do not wish for the people to die, but if they must, they must. If they are to survive, I only want their information. I'd rather not have to deal with the painful process of taking them to court where they'd only be freed by whoever put them up to stealing the documents in the first place. Considering Red Fountain agents are not primarily known as thieves, the Magix government has agreed that it is necessary to bring in a consultant of the sort. I do not wish to speak the name of the agent in case there are bugs, but they will be arriving shortly and you will get the intel sent to you. You and your agents will not like this, but we have decided to get the consultant from Hood. Until further notice, this Hood agent will be your equal and in decision making, will have greater power than you. You are not to question their methods or their motives. They are there for the sole purpose of helping to find the hacker so I do not want to hear about any arguments you may have," the man informed the slightly outraged agent in front of him.

"Do I make myself clear?" the man asked sternly.

"Yes sir," Riven replied obediently.

The man got up and left Riven alone in the room.

_A Hood agent?_ _What the hell is going on that we would need to be consulted by a Hood agent?_ Riven asked himself.

Then he heard a pounding on the door. He begrudgingly got up to open it, surprised about who he saw behind it.

"Riven, this is Musa. She's the Hood agent they sent over," Helia, not known for being the hateful type, spat out her name.

In front of him was a petit female with long midnight black hair. She had cold and intent navy blue eyes. Her face showed no emotion. She wore a skintight, fully black bodysuit. She also had black boots that Riven guessed could change to shoes with a push of a button, considering the gadgetry that was on the suit and around her waist.

Her eyes narrowed in disgust as his eyes roamed her body.

"You? They want me to work with you?" she spat out harshly.

Riven had automatically recognized her the moment the door had opened, but now he had a name to the face and a better understanding of what she looked like.

"It's not like I want to be working with you either," he hissed in contempt.

If human hair could bristle like a cat, that would be the exact definition for what Musa and Riven looked like. Each were sizing each other up.

"Where's my room?" her voice came out coldly as she turned with rage on Helia.

"I'll show it to her," Riven snarked from behind her.

Helia nodded at Riven and gave a look of pure disgust to Musa before turning away. He figured it wouldn't be too long now until Musa was knocked unconscious by Riven or they were at each other's throats.

"What are you wearing?" Riven asked, his voice dripping in suspicion and hatred.

"I could ask you the same thing," she retorted, "who the hell wears a cape?" she chuckled.

"Red Fountain Specialists," he snapped.

"More like wannabe superheroes," she replied haughtily.

"We are heroes," he roared.

"Could have fooled me. What's the battle count between us? Of that's right. Hood two, Red Fountain zero," she laughed manically.

"Why did they send you?" Riven growled, ignoring her previous comment.

"Because I'm the best at what I do. I beat you twice, didn't I?"

"Maybe we should have a rematch, after all in our last fight you had help," he snorted.

"Fine. Rematch it is. It's not like I'm afraid to fight your sorry ass," she could barely contain her skepticism.

"Are you ready now?" he sassed. He really hated her arrogant attitude towards him.

"Of course. I'm always ready," she hollered.

Instead of leading her to her room, he led her to the training room. Inside was a boxing ring. To the corner were sticks that were used to combat with.

"No weapons this time," he growled.

"Fine," she said as she removed the daggers from their sheaths and set them down on the table that was beside the boxing ring. He placed his own knife on the table and also placed the magenta colored saber that he often used in battles.

"I think you have more things hidden in there," he warned her.

She gave him a scornful look, but moved to unclip the belt that was around her waist. She felt around until she found her back up set of daggers and placed everything on the table.

"Look, I'm not allowed to kill you and you're not allowed to kill me on this mission, so I don't think either of us is really going to pull out the knives to start hacking each other," Musa rolled her eyes at his antics.

"Get in princess," he teased menacingly.

"Princess? Hmm, that's a new nickname," she replied thoughtfully as she gracefully jumped over the ropes and did a sommersault, using the forward momentum to get her on her feet.

He climbed over the ropes easily and faced her. She was in the center of the ring sizing him up and wondering how she was going to beat him twice. There was a rule in thievery: never trust someone that you've beaten twice.

"Come on princess attack me," he goaded.

"You really need to learn how not to talk in battles," she put her hand to her face. It was part of her plan. Make it look like she was distracted and lead him to wrongfully attack first.

He fell for it. He launched himself towards her with one fist locked and loaded in front and a hidden fist behind him.

She bent backwards and easily dodged the first punch, his hand and arm going above her head. In the process she did a slow backwards flip to dodge the other fist that was headed towards her. As she was flipping her foot caught his chin and he flew backwards into the ropes.

"When will you learn that unlike you I never let my guard down," she mockingly smiled at him.

He growled and heaved himself up.

"You're going to regret that," he threatened.

"Give it your best shot," she said, giving him a kissy face and puckering her lips.

Before he could say anything else she lunged at him with both fists in front. She gave a series of hard and fast jabs at his face and he easily blocked them.

"You're going to have to try harder," he joked as he blocked one of her fists.

"Always be wary of a surprise attack," she quoted Cal as she leaped up and gave a roundhouse kick to his side.

He fell back, but used the momentum to do a backwards sommersault and stood up.

She retreated to one of the corners of the rings and once again was going through battle strategies in her head.

While she was thinking he snuck up behind her and attempted to kick her. However, before he could make contact she spun around and grabbed his leg. She then hurled him towards the other side of the ring.

"Gosh, Cal was right. I really do need to work on watching out for surprise attacks," she reckoned to herself.

"Who's Cal?" Riven asked, trying to get her distracted.

"He's someone that you wouldn't know," she shrugged as he launched himself at her again.

She rolled her eyes and easily sidestepped his attack, but in the process got clipped in the chin with his hidden fist.

"Fuck, I really need to work on that," she gasped as she rubbed her chin.

"Why won't you go down?" Riven spat in frustration. She was strong. Helia had been wrong if he had assumed that Riven could beat the consultant from Hood. This girl had guts.

"Do you give up yet?" she asked hopefully. She was growing weary from the overexertion of her body, besides the agent that stood in front of her wasn't worth it. Her muscles were already sore from Cal who had punished her for not being on the lookout for surprises that morning.

"No. First one to pin the other to the floor wins," he snarled at her.

"Deal," she shrugged nonchalantly.

He raced at her, hoping to trip up her feet, but before he could make his move he received a blatant fist to the face and was thrown onto his back. While he was writhing in pain she kicked him in the side which caused him to turn over on his stomach. She then pounced upon his back and pulled one arm behind her.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten," she mocked him as she counted down from ten, hitting one of her hands on the ground with each number.

She rolled off of him and stood back up.

He groaned in agony and rolled onto his back, looking up at the crazy ass female that stood above him.

She offered one of her hands to help him up, but he ignored it and rolled onto his stomach. He put both arms in front and pushed himself up until he was on his knees. Then he slowly got up to where both feet were planted somewhat firmly on the ground.

"I think I won," she flashed him a set of pearly white teeth.

"How? How did you beat me? I've been training for nineteen years. I was five when I first started. How?" he asked in astonishment.

"You don't contain the hurt, pain and rage that I hold in my heart," she whispered. She had been training far less than him, but those emotions fueled her fire. They also made her the murder-loving person she didn't want to be, at least when she was with her team and Cal she could control the boiling feelings. It was the reason she seemed so apathetic towards people. If she wasn't, she was bound to injure someone.

"What do you mean?" he prodded. He was still gasping for air and he was bent over with his chest heaving.

"I see that you have rage inside of you. Something bad happened to you some years ago, I can tell because I am the same way. However, you don't have the drive that I have. Nothing was ever like hell for you," she growled threateningly. Her emotions were beginning to heat up and her anger was coming to the surface. How dare a Red Fountain Specialist question her? How dare they? It was in part thanks to the god damn organization that she was the way she was. They turned her into the killing fiend that she was by torturing and murdering her mother in front of her. She was only six years old.

"What is your rage?" he asked honestly curious as to how someone got to the level they were at in such a short amount of time.

"It stems from your fucking pristine and beloved Red Fountain Specialists," she bristled.

"What do you have against us?" he countered. He would always feel anger whenever anyone dissed his group, after all he was loyal to the end.

"Everything!" she roared.

"That's bullshit. What the hell did we ever do to you?" he shouted back.

Musa took a deep breath to try and control the rage and utter hatred that she was beginning to feel, but it was to no avail.

"You seemed like you weren't even trying come at me again and this time with full force," he challenged her.

"I can't," she hollered.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Fine, but it'll be a death that I'm willing to do," she cringed at herself, but knew that her rage needed to be fed.

She launched herself at him. She had the speed of a cheetah and he was unprepared for her attack. She landed several punches on his body, not caring if they were well aimed or not. Her fists were flying at high speeds when he finally landed a kick to her gut.

She slid back and regained her balance.

"Red Fountain Specialists took away my life," she hissed as she raced towards him again. He was getting bombarded with fast flying kicks and fists and he could feel the weakness rushing inside of him.

He landed on the ground after one of her well aimed kicks to the gut.

She pounced on him. She straddled his stomach and reached down with her hand to enclose his throat. He began to feel a tightening on his trachea and prayed that the crazed lunatic would snap back into reality. His legs and arms began to flail in an attempt to get her off of him.

"Your so called "goody-two-shoes" Specialists murdered my innocent mother in front of me and then took me as prisoner," she spat. She was disgusted with this ignorant man who could have been a child in front of her. He was naïve to think that the hands of the Specialists were clear of lives and blood.

She released his throat and stood up. She dusted off her suit and took deep breaths to calm herself. The last time she had gotten like this was when she had met Stella.

* * *

"Leave me alone," Musa hollered at the man that was holding her shoulder.

"Come on girly, start dancing," the man sneered into her ear.

Musa reached around and grabbed his hand. She spun and flung him to the ground. She sprang on top of him and let out a mad series of jabs. She heard the crack of the bone snapping in his jaw. She felt the red liquid well up on her hands. She had come close to killing the man. He had touched her inappropriately thinking that she was one of the prostitutes that hung out near the bar. It had been a few days after she had murdered the Specialists and she was in hiding from the Magix government.

"Stop!" a voice shouted. Musa could barely hear it through the fog of her rage.

"Stop!" the voice said again as Musa's hand was tied up by the stranger.

"No!" Musa roared.

The stranger had gotten Musa off of the man and was now holding onto Musa's arms.

"Cal? Is he alright?" the stranger asked. Musa shook her head to clear her of the thoughts. Once her blurred vision focused she say that the stranger had long blond hair and was a few inches taller than her.

"He still has a pulse," the man that the stranger had called Cal said back.

"What were you doing?" Cal hissed as he turned towards Musa. She had been taken back by the wonder in his eyes. He didn't seem mad, instead he seemed interested in the species in front of him.

"He touched my ass," Musa growled blatantly.

"Come on, we have to get those hands taped up," the blond noted as Musa looked to her hands to see the cuts that had formed from the pieces of broken bone that had stuck out of the man's chin.

After that night Cal had introduced Musa to Stella, one of his agents that he used to go undercover. They had been tailing Musa for a while, on orders of the Magix government, but had decided that they would take her in rather than hand her over.

* * *

"Hold still," she growled at the Specialist as he tried to leave the bed in the infirmary.

Musa had put all of her weapons back on herself and had picked him up to carry him to the mini hospital.

She had passed Helia on the way and he had tried to stop her, but she had threatened to hurt Riven even more if he didn't let her pass.

Now she was attempting to bandage his cuts and to clean out the wounds except he was struggling to get up.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

"Helping you," she replied as she put the alcohol on his cut.

He winced in pain and looked down. She had bandaged most of the cuts. There was a black bag laying at the foot of his bed and there were medical supplies scattered around the bag.

"You tried to kill me," he shouted, attempting to swing his legs off the mattress.

"And I can do it again if you don't hold still," she shot back.

It was true. She had lost control. Before Riven had regained consciousness she had called Cal and he had calmed her down quite a bit. She realized that the only people that were ever able to relax her after one of her outbursts were Cal and Stella.

She sighed as she wrapped medical tape around his splinted wrist. Musa had broken his wrist.

"That's why I never go full out in a fight," she told him, answering one of his many questions.

"What?" he asked.

"I never go all out in a fight because I'm afraid that I'll kill someone and that I'll like doing it. You don't know me or any of my problems. You wouldn't understand my beef with Red Fountain nor would you ever comprehend the matter. You're lucky you didn't push me past the edge with your annoying questions," she said thoughtfully, almost to herself.

Riven looked down at his hands. She had cleaned most of the blood off of his face, but he could tell that one of the eyes would be black the next morning.

"How are you so powerful?" he couldn't help himself.

"I told you. My rage has manifested in my body to give me above human strength," she shrugged.

"That doesn't make sense," he incredulously said.

"Well, believe it. I've only been in real training for three years. I've been living in hatred for fifteen," she mused.

"Hatred?" he asked again.

"These will heal soon. Keep your wrist splinted. It'll heal, but I think it has a small fracture," she sighed as she stood up. She went to the foot of the bed and began to put the unused supplies back into the bag.

Understanding that she was not in the mood to talk and that she was a force to be reckoned with he didn't speak.

She silently turned away from the bed and walked out of the infirmary with the black bag slung over her shoulder.

* * *

"Go over the information again," she growled at the red haired Comms man. He was wasting her time with his report.

"I said that the files that were stolen had to do with Melody personnel. Other than that I have no idea what to think. Whoever hacked into this had some serious technology," Timmy replied. He was getting annoyed with the bossiness of the Hood agent.

"You're of no use," Musa exclaimed in frustration. She knew that Tecna could have had this solved in less than the time it took for this nerd to even get the program open.

"Who are you calling useless," came a menacing voice from the doorway.

"Your Comms man," Musa bristled at the magenta haired specialist who was still unnamed to her.

"Riven, does she really need to be here?" Timmy asked. He was getting fed up with getting yelled at and couldn't even believe that the Hood agent was the best that they had. Then again after seeing what she had done to Riven yesterday the whole entire team had been on edge when they were around her.

"Unfortunately, yes," Riven grumbled. He wasn't thrilled about the idea of the Hood agent being there either, especially since she almost killed him the other day.

"I can't wait until we're enemies again," Musa seethed.

Riven walked into the small room and stood behind Timmy.

"Timmy, try again. You may have missed something," Riven ordered gently. He could tell that his team was anxious being around the Hood agent. She was emotionally uncontrollable and had proved it yesterday.

All three sat in silence while Timmy typed in a different program. Musa hadn't apologized for the incident that occurred yesterday and when asked why she had done it she had replied simply with "your leader pushed my patience too far."

"I think I found something," Timmy uttered under his breath.

"Pull it up," Musa demanded.

"You can't just order them around like that," Riven hissed as he shot her an evil glare. His eye was still swollen and there was a nice rim of black and blue around his eye. His breathing was still hard to do since he had a few cracked ribs.

"Watch me," she hissed back.

"Are you two done?" Timmy asked nervously from below them.

Two sets of eyes, one navy and the other a dark purple, turned towards the red haired Specialist.

"I think I found something. It's a code of some sort. It's weird. Come take a look," Timmy murmured as he tried to decipher it.

Musa and Riven both leaned their heads in and read the line of code.

"You have to be fucking kidding me," Musa gasped.

"What?" both Timmy and Riven turned towards the agitated Hood agent.

"I'll be back," Musa snarled as she stormed out of the room.

Once she was in the hall she removed the device that was in her suit.

"Tecna?" Musa cooed sweetly even though she felt like punching somebody.

"Delta to Alpha, what can I do for you?" Tecna replied.

"Why the hell did I find your code as the culprit for hacking into the Magix government's computer files?" Musa asked this time with sarcasm and a steely tone.

"Whoops," Tecna wheezed.

"No kidding. I want explanations. Now," Musa ordered.

"Let me get Cal," Tecna whispered in anxiety.

Musa heard static on the line for a few minutes until a familiar voice popped up on the line.

"What's up?" Cal drawled.

"What did you have her do? I know she told you the problem. You better not lie to me," Musa warned. She was alone in the hall and kept checking her surroundings to make sure no Specialists were lurking in the shadows eavesdropping on her conversation.

"Err, you probably should come back to headquarters so that we can talk," Cal offered.

"Cal," Musa said through clenched teeth.

"Come back tonight while they're all asleep, besides I've missed you," Cal said softly into the phone.

"Well that's sweet and all, but I've been gone for a day and now I find out that a mission was done and I'm here investigating the mission from a different side," Musa was still furious.

"Muse, just come home tonight," Cal said again using her nickname.

"Fine, I'll see you tonight," Musa stated as she hung up the phone.

She hurried away towards the Red Fountain training room. She needed to take her anger out on something and the best thing was a dummy.

Once there she grabbed the blindfold from the black bag. Flora had remembered to pack it thankfully. Flora knew how much Musa trained with the blindfold and figured she would probably need it for her mission.

Musa walked to the center of the ring and set up the dummy that they had in the room. Then she wrapped the blindfold around her head and tied it tightly. Her hands felt about for the leather grips. She gave a small sigh once she found them. She pushed off with her feet and did a backflip pulling out the daggers as she landed on her feet. Her breathing slowed and she began focusing on her senses. She could feel the presence of the dummy in front of her. She jumped forward and reached out with the dagger. She was aiming for the stomach. Her dagger caught the fabric of the dummy and she heard the sound of fabric ripping.

Musa pushed the blindfold up above her eyes to see where the knife had landed. There was a long tear in the middle of the object.

She gave a slow smile and walked over to the opposite corner of the ring. Her hands reached up until she could feel the silk of the blindfold and pulled down the fabric.

She took a deep breath and honed in on her senses once more. Musa pushed off with her feet and did a cartwheel with her daggers in her hands. She leaped up, spun and struck down with the daggers in her hands.

Once again she lifted the rectangular fabric from her eyes and looked over to the dummy in the center of the ring. There was a tear on the right side where a person's shoulder would be.

Droplets had begun to run down her face from her forehead and when one had leaked into her mouth it had tasted like a mixture of salt and water.

"Excuse me," the voice resounded around the otherwise silent room.

Musa spun with annoyance towards the voice. Being interrupted while she was practicing was one of the most outraging experiences.

"What?" she lividly yelled at the figure.

"Timmy wants to know what the code meant," the voice matched her tone.

Riven walked out from the shadows. He had been watching her during the time when she was attacking the dummy and he even had to admit that she was good. Riven was even unsure if he could beat her with the blindfold she was wearing.

"I don't know," he received a hard tone back.

"It seemed like you did," he mused looking over at the dummy. The wounds she had inflicted upon it looked deep and were made with accurate precision. He could tell that she had made her target based on her pleased expression after each thrust.

"Well I didn't," Musa replied clearly annoyed that someone had interrupted.

"Why so hell bent?" Riven asked attempting to be courteous. He was worried that she might snap again like she had yesterday in that same room.

"Leave now," Musa ordered each word sounding like chalk scraping a chalkboard.

Riven looked at her slightly taken aback by her brashness. He turned around, shrugged his shoulders, and headed for the door. Before he reached the door he turned back to look at her. She had shed the blindfold and was now twirling around with the daggers. Her choice of weapon seemed really familiar to him, but he didn't really take note of it.

Musa spun and struck, her eyes focused intently on the air in front of her. In her head she was imagining a combination of moves an enemy could make.

After another thirty or so minutes of exercising her daggers she stopped and grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat from her face.

She looked over to the clock and was surprised by the time that she saw. It was 8:15 pm. It was almost time to go back to headquarters to find out what the hell was going on.

* * *

She poked her head out from the doorframe and glanced each way down the hallway. Nobody was stirring and she couldn't hear any sounds coming from either side.

Musa finally reached the garage, luckily not encountering anyone in The Complex. She had stuck out of the place before and remembered that it was easiest when everyone was sleeping. It was around ten o'clock and it would take thirty or so minutes to get to Hood headquarters.

The drive was silent and dark. It was rather enjoyable. The ride gave her time to clear her head of the mindless thoughts.

Musa finally reached Hood headquarters and parked the bike in the garage below the building. She scanned in her card to get to the elevator that led directly to her floor and building.

Once the doors opened she rushed down the hallway towards Cal's office. Musa opened the door and walked inside. She turned around and closed it silently.

"What's going on Cal?" Musa asked looking over to where Cal was standing. His back was facing her and he was looking out the window at the million of bright lights in the sky.

"You may want to sit down," Cal sighed turning to face her.

His eyes were drooping and his shoulders slumped.

"You should sit down too, you look tired," Musa chided him lightly.

She strode to where he stood, clutched his arm and led him to the couch that was on the back wall of his office. They both sat down. Musa repositioned herself so that she was facing Cal.

"Why did Tecna hack into Magix? Why did you not tell me? And what am I doing on this mission?" Musa rapidly fired off her questions. There were still more that were deep inside her, but she didn't want him to be too overwhelmed.

"It's kind of a long story," Cal began, reaching over to take her hand which she willingly gave to him. He started to stroke her fingers and his eyes never left their hands.

"Well I have time. They don't wake up until six," Musa said, leaning her head on her arm which was positioned on the back of the couch.

She looked at him intently awaiting the full blown story that was about to come, unassuming of the details that would throw her through a whirlwind of emotions.

"Magix is searching for you again," Cal sighed regretfully. He had protected her from the first search when she was eighteen and hadn't told Magix of her whereabouts, but contacts within the government had told him that higher powers were beginning to search for the missing girl that had killed three Red Fountain agents and had escaped The Complex.

"What?" Musa gasped. She thought the whole hide and seek game was over.

"Someone in the upper division of the government assigned a Red Fountain task force to find you. They don't know that you're a Hood agent and the only picture they have of you is the picture from when you were six," Cal murmured.

Musa's hand began trembling in his and he desperately wanted to ease the emotions that were coming to the surface of the girl he adored.

"I asked Tecna to take your file off of the Magix database and well we found some interesting stuff," Cal mumbled. He pulled Musa's hand to bring her closer to him, knowing that she would need someone when he broke the news to her.

"What stuff?" Musa asked, her eyes glazed over in wonder.

"Stuff about your mother," Cal barely whispered. It was like hearing a pin drop in silence. The overwhelming stillness was unbearable to Musa.

"What?" Musa exclaimed.

"Muse, I don't know how to tell you this, but your mother was the Queen of Melody. She had abdicated the throne and was hiding out in Magix. You know that Magix has long wanted to overtake Melody, well after you were born the Queen left Melody so that she could ensure that you were safe or so the intel at Magix states that. Apparently Cris Harmony took care of you and your mother; you must remember him as your father. Your real birth father died in an attack on Melody that was ordered by the Magix government. Once your mother left, Melody was easily conquered by Magix. However, they knew that if the Queen returned the Melodians would rise up again Magix so they ordered a hit on your mother. Hood wasn't around at the time. Red Fountain used to be Magix' somewhat of a Hood organization. Specialists were trained to assassinate and were very much like Hood, only they did some horrendous things that we have never tried. Anyways, Magix intel found your mother. They also found out that the reason she had left was because she was with child. They sent their three best agents to find her and kill her. That's where your story comes in. Knowing full well your title, the agents were ordered to dispose of you too. However, luckily for you, they received orders, at the last minute that they were instead supposed to take you as prisoner. Throughout your years of growing up in The Complex the Magix government had forgotten about you because they were waging war with the Melodians. Once it had gotten out that the Queen had been slain, thanks to Cris Harmony, Melody had reacted. It is in part the reason they are free from Magix today. After you escaped, Magix was keen on finding you until I ordered that they not look for you. Now, however, it seems that their plan is to use you as a proxy queen so that they can take over Melody for good," Cal finished. Throughout the explanation Musa had sat in silence. Now she could feel the wetness of her tears on her cheeks. Her mouth was puckered in a frown and her whole body was tense. There was a tightening in her chest and she felt like she couldn't breathe. Her trachea closed shut and her breathing became quicker and choppier.

"Musa are you okay?" Cal asked worriedly. He pulled her in even tighter to him and wrapped his arms around her to calm her down.

She buried her head into his shoulder and in a matter of seconds he felt a pool of tears on the sleeve of his shirt.

He reached behind her and began to stroke her back in reassuring, calm circles.

"Shh, it's okay Muse, I'm right here," he soothed. Her body was trembling in convulsions and she felt like she was going to pass out.

"Who's on the team? Was it in the file?" Musa choked out through her sobs.

"I don't know who they are but the names were Riven, Timmy, Helia, Nabu, Brandon and Sky," Cal replied.

"Fuck," Musa whispered.

"What?" Cal asked, not sure if he had heard her correctly.

"They're the team that I'm working with to track down the hackers. It's getting kind of complicated isn't it?" Musa gave a small wry smile. He looked down into her eyes and saw the pain and sadness leaking out through her irises.

"You need to lead them to somewhere else. I'm sure the reason they were assigned to find the hackers is because they need that information in order to find you," Cal said through her hair. He had leaned over and was resting his chin upon her head.

"Who do I lead them to?" Musa asked fingering the loose piece of string that was hanging off of Cal's shirt.

"We'll put the files back tomorrow. Tecna's almost done copying everything," Cal said.

"Okay. So my mother was the queen. Does this mean that I can rightfully take the throne of Melody?" Musa asked curiously.

"I think so as long as you could prove it. It said in the files that you had a birthmark shaped like a trebleclef on your right hip."

"Well do I?" Musa questioned softly, her tears were beginning to dry up, but the pain of the news had not subsided.

"How should I…Oh, well I wasn't exactly looking for it," he chuckled rolling his eyes at her.

"I don't think I should go back to The Complex," Musa sighed.

"Why not? You'll only be there for another day once Tecna gets the files back into place."

"Yeah, but I almost killed somebody yesterday and well I don't know if I'll be able to control my rage and desire for revenge once I'm over there. They killed my mother simply because they wanted to take over my country," Musa hissed quietly.

"Musa," Cal reproached her gently. He had heard the confusion and pain in her voice when she had called him yesterday to tell him that she had almost completely destroyed one of the Red Fountain agents.

"You and Stella are the only ones that can get me to calm down when I'm jacked up on emotions and you know that. I'm only able to control myself around you and the girls because, well I care about you guys and you, especially," she shyly added.

Cal gave her a quick smile and leaned in to give her a small kiss on the lips.

"I care about you too," he murmured. She could feel the warmth of his breath cascade over her cheeks.

"Do you think they even know? I may have shouted a few things at that Riven guy when I was pummeling him," Musa trailed off.

"What things?" Cal asked, concern slipping into his voice.

"Well I don't know if he heard me, but I may have mentioned that Specialists murdered my mother and ruined my life," Musa shrugged unconvincingly.

"That's not good," Cal stated matter-of-factly.

"No shit," Musa teased, poking him in the chest.

"How are you so calm?" he inquired, looking down at her.

"I told you, you have a calming effect on me. I feel more peaceful and at ease when I'm with you," Musa whispered into his chest.

"You're going to have to go back although I don't want you to. If you're close to them they may find out your secret."

"I know. It'll only be for another day though, right? You better make sure that Tecna finishes this quickly because I really need to get out of there," Musa said.

"I agree."

Musa reached up and brought his head close to hers so that she could press her lips into his. He pushed her back gently on the couch until she was lying down and he was above her. His arms were tangled up with her body and hers were entwined with his.

When they finally broke apart, Musa's tears had dried up and realization of what had happened sunk in.

"Holy shit, I'm a princess," she gasped. He felt the excitement and curiosity that was flowing through her go up into his forearms.

"Yes you are," he mumbled through her neck. He was giving soft pecks to her neck and she had her arms wrapped around him so that her hands were massaging his back.

"Red Fountain and Magix are both responsible for my mother's and father's deaths," she glowered.

"Yes," Cal said as he pushed himself up and gave her a small kiss on the forehead.

"Why isn't life simpler why is it so arcane?" Musa had a serious flash of déjà vu.

"Because it's us," he whispered as she mouthed the phrase.

"Ugh! I have to get back," Musa unwillingly detached herself from his grasp.

Before she could leave entirely he pulled her in for another steaming kiss in farewell.

"Don't get yourself captured or killed, please," he pleaded. There was a mixture of worry and fear in his eyes.

"I'll try not to," she reassured him.

With a last glance behind her she walked out the door of the office and headed back towards the garage.

* * *

"I have news," Timmy panted in the doorway to the kitchen at The Complex. Helia and Nabu turned to pass each other looks.

"What news?" Musa asked, not looking up from her toast and bacon.

"Just come," Timmy shot a look at her.

The brooding magenta haired specialist rose from his chair with an exasperated sigh and headed off behind Timmy. Nabu and Helia got up as well and followed Riven. Brandon and Sky were away on a reconnaissance mission.

Musa shook her head and also left the table, making her way to the Comms room.

"Look," Timmy pointed to the screen as Musa walked in.

"What is it?" Riven mumbled.

"The files are back," Timmy said in awe.

"How're the files back?" Nabu asked from behind Timmy's shoulders.

"Maybe the thieves felt sorry?" Musa sniggered from the back of the room. She smiled inwardly at how fast Tecna was able to get in and out without anyone noticing her program was imbedded in theirs. She really was the best at technology.

"I don't understand how they got back there," Timmy muttered in disbelief.

"We should call Magix. Can you open up the files we need to look in them to make sure everything's still there," Riven looked over his shoulder at Musa and then lowered his voice, "make sure _all_ of the information is still in there."

Timmy nodded and went to work at the keyboard.

"I guess this means that I won't have to deal with you anymore right?" Musa smiled in content at the gloomy Specialist.

"Hopefully," Riven said.

Musa rolled her eyes and walked out of the room.

"She looks like the girl in the picture," Helia noted quietly from the corner of the room

"What do you mean?" Riven turned towards Helia.

"She looks like the girl we're supposed to find."

"I don't think so," Nabu spoke up, "the picture's from when she was six."

"There are similarities, but I don't think she's the one that we're looking for," Riven said slowly and thoughtfully.

"Didn't she scream something at you before you blacked out?" Helia pushed. When him and Riven had spoke, Riven had mentioned that Musa was yelling at him about something.

"I don't remember honestly," Riven shrugged nonchalantly.

"I don't trust her," Helia hissed through his teeth.

"I don't think anybody in this room trusts her," Nabu stated.

All three heads nodded in mutual agreement.

"Call Magix so that we can get her out of here," Riven ordered as he walked out the door. He wanted to confront the Hood agent since there just seemed something not right about her.

He strode down to where her room was and knocked.

"What?" came an troubled voice from the other side.

"We need to talk," Riven said his voice cold.

"The door's unlocked," Musa called back out. She was packing her things and getting ready to leave.

Riven twisted the knob and pushed himself into the room. She was in the center of the room with two black bags. One was overflowing with clothes and the other had miscellaneous items like medical supplies and weapons in it.

"You know who stole the files," he stated, his voice was seething in disgust.

"What are you talking about?" Musa asked, her back turned to him.

"I hate repeating myself," Riven growled, "you know exactly who stole the files and who put them back."

"I have no clue what you're talking about. I don't know who stole the files and like you I'm clueless as to who put them back," Musa said innocently.

"Turn around and tell me to my face then," Riven challenged.

Musa turned around and walked up to Riven until they were almost nose to nose. She stared deep into his eyes with hatred and repeated herself.

"I don't know who stole the files and I don't know who put them back," she said calmly with a hint of revulsion in her voice.

"I don't believe you," Riven said. He towered over her small figure and if anyone looked it they would have believed that the muscular specialist would be the one to beat the smaller Hood agent, but they would have been wrong and the incident two days ago would have been enough to prove it.

"Back off," Musa warned the Specialists. Instead of backing away Riven took a step towards her. Their faces were centimeters away from each other and Riven recalled when she had kissed him. He hadn't told any of his team because he knew that they would laugh at his weakness. He did have a weakness for beautiful girls and although she was his enemy, it didn't stop him from being attracted to her. When they had kissed Riven had tasted and smelled roses and strawberries. Even though she had injured him afterwards, he had to admit to himself that it was one of the best kisses he had ever had.

"Make me," Riven growled. She hadn't backed up when he had stridden forward and he had to admire her guts.

"I don't think you want me to go there. Remember the last time you pushed me?" Muas threatened. Riven cringed at the memory. He was still experiencing pain in his chest due to the cracked ribs.

"Fine," Riven said backing off and putting his hands in the air.

"That's what I thought," Musa hissed as a shadow fell over her eyes.

"When are you leaving?" Riven asked from the doorway. He had the door slightly ajar and was holding the doorknob in his hand.

"Tonight," Musa stated before taking a deep breath. Riven had pushed her and she could feel the uncontrollable emotions start pushing up from the pit of her stomach.

"Good," Riven snapped as he walked out of the room. She heard a huge sound as the door slammed back into place.

She grabbed the device that was hidden underneath one of the bags.

"Alpha to Delta, I'm back," Musa called Tecna.

"Delta to Alpha, all of the files are there except pictures. I completely deleted those from their files," Tecna responded.

"Thanks Delta. I'll be back later tonight," Musa whispered as she turned off the device.

* * *

"I'm telling you, she's the girl in the picture," Helia exclaimed. The team had been arguing about it for a good hour or so. Musa had finally left The Complex and Helia had taken it as his sign to push his point.

"We don't have the pictures anymore so it's not like we could compare them," Sky muttered in annoyance.

Sky and Brandon had just gotten back and had been updated on what had happened with the Magix files. They were now discussing a plan to track down the wanted female. Magix had called on them a few weeks earlier, but they had been busy with other assignments and were now getting to the plan for this task.

"What I don't understand is this: they put the files back, but they delete the pictures. Why? I think it's a cover-up of some sort. Whoever took the files knows where this girl is and doesn't want us to find her," Riven drawled from the couch.

"It's possible," Brandon mused.

"I think it's highly possible," Timmy gave his input, "all of the files are exactly identical to the ones that were taken, but the photos are missing."

"So maybe if we find who took the file we'll find the girl," Riven pondered.

"I think that's the best lead we'll get," Nabu said.

"I still think it was that Hood agent," Helia rolled his eyes in contempt before Riven shot him a warning glance.

"Our plan now is to figure out who stole the files," Riven stated.

Four heads nodded in agreement while one mouth pulled into a frown. Helia had never agreed with Riven's leadership skills, but had followed due to the fact that Riven was the better fighter.

Little did they know that Helia was actually quite correct on his hypothesis.

* * *

"Hey guys," Musa said wearily from behind the couch. Her team had gathered in the lounge area awaiting her return.

"Musa, you're back!" Stella exclaimed as she leaped off of the couch and ran to give Musa a hug. Musa stiffened under Stella, but the blond knew that Musa just didn't like hugs.

"How was Red Fountain," Layla sneered in disgust. She hated the Specialists almost as much as Musa did.

"Fun," Musa replied sarcastically.

"What happened to your wrist sweetie?" Flora's soft voice came from the chair.

"I got in a fight and I wrapped it," Musa muttered in embarrassment.

"Let me take a look at it," Flora said getting up and moving to where Musa stood.

"So did you find the people who took the file?" Bloom asked.

Musa shot a glance at Tecna whose hand was covering her snickering mouth.

"No, but the person put the files back I guess," Musa shrugged.

"You bandaged up your wrist just like I told you," Flora said in admiration.

"I listen," Musa shot back in a teasing tone.

"Thank god for that," Flora retorted lightly.

"Cal wants to see you," Stella said winking at Musa. Although the blond didn't know what was occurring with Musa and Cal she couldn't help, but wish that they were together. Whenever she got the chance to vocalize her opinion she definitely took it.

Musa shot a glare at Stella before she pulled herself away from the team and headed to Cal's office.

"You're back," Cal said happily as he walked up to her. He put his arms around her and leaned in for a burning kiss.

When Musa pulled apart she looked behind her to make sure she had closed his office door.

"Tecna got the files back quickly," Musa murmured.

"I told her to get them up as quickly as possible," Cal stated.

He pulled her over to his desk and sat in his chair while he cleared a space for her to sit on his desk.

"I have to do work, but I want you to keep me company," he said to the face that had an eyebrow raised.

"Only for a few," Musa laughed rolling her eyes at his antics.

She leaped up onto the desk and turned towards the computer. He looked at the computer screen and muttered underneath his breath.

"What's going on at Hood today?" Musa yawned.

"I may have another mission for you," Cal said looking up from the screen.

"Another one?" Musa exclaimed in slight annoyance.

"Sorry," Cal said softly, turning his attention back to the computer.

"Cal?" Musa asked shyly.

"Hmm?" he asked looking over at her.

She was giving him a seductive smile and he found that it was hard to focus when she was this close.

"You know I've been thinking," she said getting up from the desk and spinning him in his chair so that he was facing her. She leaned down and put both hands on either side of the chair, resting them on the arms of the chair. Her face was inches away from his.

"Thinking about what?" he asked, he could feel the heat race to various and particular parts of his body. His face was flushed and he began to feel himself react to her brashness.

"I have a lot of time and I'm sure that you can take a break," whispered in his ear.

"Musa," he groaned.

"What?" she giggled, her breath tickling his ear.

"Oh what the hell?" he said as he reached around and pulled her to him.

* * *

"Does anyone ever come to your office?" Musa asked aimlessly as she pulled her pants up and zippered them.

She looked around the floor for her shirt and finally found it lying near the desk.

"Not usually," Cal replied, buttoning up his collared shirt.

"Why not?" Musa was not exactly focused on the general topic, but was curious as to why rarely anyone was called on by Cal.

"Because I have directors of lower divisions. I only deal directly with your team because everyone else I have is too incompetent to be able to handle your division," Cal chuckled.

"Don't you ever call in those directors?" Musa asked, pulling her t-shirt over her head. Her back was faced towards Cal and he was attempting to buckle up the belt on his pants.

"Yeah, but we meet on a lower floor," Cal mumbled.

"Why are you asking?" Cal looked over at her.

"Just wondering I guess," she replied.

Cal picked up his watch from the desk and looked at it.

"What time is it?" Musa asked moving her eyes in his direction. She walked over to him and took a peek at the watch.

"Two," Cal responded.

"I have to go," Musa said.

"Where to?" Cal asked looking over his shoulder at her.

"I have to go hang with the girls. Some of them wanted me to help them with their skills," Musa shrugged.

"Before you go, I'll give you the information for this mission," Cal said as he walked towards the desk and fiddled around with the computer.

"Did you send it?" Musa asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay, I'll go brief them too I guess," Musa said beginning to walk towards the door. Cal reached out and grabbed her waist before she could leave. He pulled her in and pressed his lips firmly on hers. His hands started to travel up her back underneath her shirt. She pulled away quickly.

"Not again," she chided taking his hands and moving them back to his sides.

He shot her a teasing glare.

"I'll see you later," she said as she opened the door.

* * *

"Never let your guard down," Musa reproached the red head who she had upended.

Bloom sat up and shook her head. She could still see little stars in her vision and her head was pounding. Bloom had got caught daydreaming during battle and Musa had punished her for it.

"Sorry," Bloom muttered in embarrassment.

"You're going to fight battles where it will get really boring and I'm sorry for that, but you can't zone out. If you do you might your ass kicked," Musa rolled her eyes and offered Bloom her hand so she could get up.

"Practice with Stella," Musa said, motioning for the blond to come over.

Musa then walked over to where Layla was observing in the corner of the room.

"She's getting better," Layla said moving her head in the direction of Bloom.

"I know she still needs work on her concentration though," Musa replied.

"She's new to this. You need to give her some time. Not all of us can be crazy super humans like you," Layla shot Musa a glance.

"How're Tecna and Flora doing?" Musa asked, turning her gaze to the battling females on the other side of the mat.

"Flora's winning, but Tecna definitely has some great strategy skills," Layla said back.

"You've gotten stronger," Layla mumbled thoughtfully, "have you been working with someone?"

"Cal," Musa replied simply. Layla wasn't like Stella in believing Musa needed a love life, but she did think that there was something more to Musa and Cal than met the eye.

"I guess he's the only one that could probably beat you huh?" Layla mused.

"I've gotten him a few times, but yeah, he mostly wins whenever we fight," Musa sighed.

"Did he give us a new assignment?" Layla asked.

"Yes, when they're done I'll go over it," Musa said pointing her head towards the four fighting warriors.

"Why not now? I think Flora and Tecna could use the break."

"Fine, go ahead to the lounge. I'll call them," Musa said to Layla.

"Tec, Bloom, Flo, and Stella I have to brief on a mission. We can finish training later," Musa called out to the fighting agents.

All four turned around and headed out behind Musa. She was still clad in her training clothes that consisted of black shorts, a neon blue sports bra, and a black pinny.

"What's the mission Muse?" Stella asked as she plopped down on the couch.

Musa stood in the center of the room among the couches and chairs and in front of the TV.

Layla came out of the kitchen with six bottles of water and handed them out to each agent.

"We've been hired to steal back a painting that was stolen by the Magix government from its owner a few years ago," Musa sighed. She really hated some of the missions she was assigned because sometimes people could be extremely petty about unimportant objects.

"We're going to steal it back during the Winter Ball held at the Magix Museum. There will be Red Fountain Specialists casing the area, but we're going to go undercover. Unfortunately they know what I look like so I'm going to need others in the field with me as well. I'll serve as a distractor that they will follow while three of you steal the painting. I need Tecna on Comms and Flora on medical. They will be located in the Comms room and the meeting point. Stella, Bloom and Layla will be in the field with me. Make sure you dress up because I don't want them to recognize us. They don't know what Bloom looks like so I want Bloom to take the lead on the heist," Musa told the group.

"So you're not going to be stealing the painting?" Bloom asked. She was worried since she had never done a mission without Musa leading before.

"I'll still be leading, but the Specialists know what I look like so I will distract them from you guys and you'll be able to sneak out of the ballroom. However, they also know what Stella and Layla look like so in case they get caught, you're going to have to be the one that steals the painting and rendezvous with Flora and Tecna. If Layla and Stella don't get caught then you'll have them, but if they do stay with the mission, meet up with the rest and leave back to headquarters. Stella, Layla and I can take care of ourselves," Musa nodded towards her best agents.

"When do we leave?" Flora asked.

"Tomorrow," Musa said.

* * *

"Are you coming to bed?" Cal asked as he walked up behind her and draped his arms around her. Musa was sitting at her desk reading an article on the internet.

"Soon," she said leaning back into the chair.

"What are you looking at?" Cal questioned. He leaned his head forward and squinted his eyes to try and gain a better view of the screen.

"It's the files Magix had on Melody," Musa said as she exited the program and shut down the laptop.

"What were you looking for?" Cal asked as she got out of the chair so that he could lead her to the bed. They were in his room this time. The room was much like hers only it was more like an apartment than just a room. He had a kitchen in one room and a security room that was next to the kitchen.

"I was just curious I guess," she replied as she lifted up the covers of the bed and sank in. He followed in behind her and she entwined her arms around him.

"Did you find what you were looking for then?" his voice came out muffled since he said it through her hair.

"I think so," she murmured quietly. Her eyes began to fall with sleep. The last thing she remembered was Cal's soft breathing beside her.

"Are we all set?" Layla asked walking towards the bags that were piled up near the plane.

"I think so," Musa replied, double checking to make sure all the disguises were there.

"Alright let's go then!" Stella happily bounded up the flight of the plane.

Tecna turned to Musa and shook her head while rolling her eyes.

"Let's get these on the plane," Musa said, lifting three of the bags and walking to the back where the plane was getting loaded.

"Everything in?" Musa asked looking over at Cal.

"Should be. The bikes are in and once you put all the other equipment in you should be good," Cal replied.

"I'll be back with the rest," she said, putting the bags down beside his feet.

She walked back to the front of the plane to carry the rest of the four bags. Layla and Tecna had boarded with Stella and Bloom was on her way up the stairs.

"Musa?" Bloom called out.

"Yeah?" Musa grunted, setting the bags down to rest.

"Thanks for helping me with my technique. I've been practicing," Bloom smiled confidently.

"No problem," Musa answered and picked the bags up again.

"Okay, this is it," Musa said as she hurled one of the bags into the plane.

"Is everyone on?" Cal drawled.

"Yeah, except for me," Musa replied. The bags were now in the plane and it was time to head out for the Magix Winter Ball.

Cal looked around to make sure nobody was around or watching before pecking her on the lips.

"Don't get killed?" he said.

"I'll try not to," she smirked. It was becoming a habitat for them to say this before she left for missions; it was somewhat their way to acknowledge their feelings for each other without having to plainly acknowledge them.

She jumped from the plane and walked around him to where the stairs were to the plane.

"See you when I get back," she called over her shoulder as she boarded the jet.

* * *

"I hate going undercover," Musa growled. She was wearing a slightly off colored white strapless dress. It was made from chiffon and was fitted at the top to the top of her waist. It had a bejeweled belt and rhinestones and jewels were heavy at the top and eased out towards the skirt.

She was not wearing her suit since she didn't figure that she would need to. She was going to be there purely for distraction and in the case that she was needed for back up the dress would be relatively easy to fight in.

"I love them," Stella gasped in excitement. She had been drooling with pleasure all over the dress that she was going to be wearing for that night.

"A least you'll have some form of entertainment tonight. All I'll have is men groping my ass," Musa growled. On a recent mission, she had been forced to dance with various men from around the Magix kingdom and had received the unfortunate occasional inappropriate touch.

"Lighten up Musa," Bloom called from the other side of the room.

"Are all of you guys ready yet?" Musa asked. She was beginning to be annoyed with the fact that Stella, Bloom and Layla were taking forever to get their makeup on. Musa had braided the side of her hair and then had put it up in a bun. She wore a minimalistic amount of makeup and was now ready to leave to the ball.

"You can go," Stella said pointedly, looking at her leader.

"I can't. I have to make sure you're all in place," Musa shot back.

"Okay, I'm done," Layla said as she joined Musa by the door.

"Thank god," Musa muttered underneath her breath.

"Listen Darling, I'm just trying to make sure those Red Fountain Specialists don't recognize me," Stella shrugged shamelessly.

"Nice one Stell," came a voice from all of their earpieces.

"Alpha to Delta and Beta, can you hear us? Sorry it's a stupid question," Musa asked silently berating herself.

"Beta to Alpha, we hear you loud and clear sweetie," Flora chimed.

"Good. Come on makeup time's over," Musa said dragging Stella and Bloom from the mirrors.

Once downstairs the girls split up and fanned out across the room. The area was large, almost the size of a football field. Musa could see the different colors and textures of various dresses swirling and twirling towards her.

She felt nauseous being in the crowded room. Her eyes scanned the exits and entrances, noting which one had guards and which one did not. Finally her gaze landed on a set of eyes that she was not thrilled to see.

"I found the Specialists," Musa said into the comms device.

"This is Omega, where?" Stella asked.

"Alpha to all, they're by the grand piano. There are three of them. Magenta is Riven, blond is Sky and the black haired one is Helia," Musa informed the girls.

"Gamma to Alpha, do they have eyes on you?" Layla inquired.

"Not yet. I'll call when they do. Zeta, take your position by the back exit. I didn't see any guards there. When I give the signal I want you all to go," Musa ordered.

"Got it," Bloom replied as she went towards the back exit. Her eyes scanned the ballroom to look for any suspicious eyes on her, but she saw none.

* * *

"Riven, look," Helia leaned over and said into the brooding Specialists ear.

"Musa?" Riven asked skeptically. It was true. In front of his eyes a few rows back stood Musa. She looked absolutely regal and was speaking to a diplomat from the planet of Melody who had received the invite, despite the tensions between the two kingdoms.

"Hood's here?" Sky asked as his eyes narrowed on the crowd. He spotted a beautiful redhead that he wouldn't mind getting to know, but couldn't see any other female that resembled any Hood agent he knew, besides Musa.

"It appears that way or at least one Hood agent is here," Riven growled. It had been a few days and his cracked ribs were close to healed. There was still a bruise, but it was nothing that he couldn't fight through.

"Maybe we should go pay a visit?" Sky suggested.

"No. We all know what your type of visit is," Riven rolled his eyes at Sky's lack of diplomacy.

"I still don't trust her," Helia stated from Riven's side.

"I'll go see what she's up to," Riven said as he hoped off of the perch that they were on. His eyes looked around to see if he could see anyone suspicious near the Hood agent, but he found no one.

"They have eyes on me, go now," Musa whispered into the comms device.

"Zeta to Alpha, mission is a go," Musa heard Bloom reply. She stole a quick glance in the direction of where Bloom was and saw the red hair disappearing behind the door. Then she turned her head back to in front of her where she met a pair of menacing violet eyes.

"Why would a Hood agent be at a Magix ball?" the voice coming from the Specialist drawled casually.

"Why would a wannabe hero be protecting a Magix ball? Couldn't they have found a more eligible person?" Musa asked sweetly.

Riven shot her a glance of pure contempt and she flashed him a thousand watt smile.

"What are you doing here?" Riven growled, his voice holding a certain warning to it.

"I'm here to have fun," Musa shrugged nonchalantly, trying to figure out what his next move would be.

"That seems highly unlikely," Riven replied suspiciously.

"Can't a girl have some fun now and then?" Musa answered.

"A normal girl, yes, a Hood agent, I didn't know that you did anything fun," Riven snapped.

"I'm still normal," Musa huffed.

"Didn't seem that way when you tried to kill me," Riven retorted, knowing that he was going to strike a nerve and it might be his head on a plate later on that night.

"I'm sorry that you pushed my patience," Musa pursed her lips together in annoyance.

"I'll only ask this once again. Why are you here?" Riven warned taking a step towards her though he should have learned by now that he was not going to intimidate her in that way.

"I told you, I'm here to socialize, maybe find my prince charming, I don't know hook up with a wealthy diplomat, the works," Musa yawned in boredom, her voice dripping in sarcasm.

"I don't appreciate jokes," Riven furrowed his eyebrows.

"I don't appreciate lame questions," Musa shot back.

By now each was glaring at the other, their eyes were cold and instead of warmth radiating from either of them it was pure and utter disgust.

"You're testing me," Riven growled.

"I'm not the only one testing someone," Musa mockingly laughed.

"You really are one of the most annoying females that I have ever met and that's not just because you're a Hood agent," Riven spat.

"At least I'm not a big-headed, small-brained, dumbass wannabe hero who thinks that he's the world just because he has a Red Fountain badge," Musa retorted.

"At least I'm not a murder-loving criminal," Riven yelled.

Musa cringed at his comment, but stood her ground.

"Maybe you should be looking into Red Fountain's past endeavors and then get back to me on who is the criminal and who represents a crime organization," Musa fumed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Riven shot back.

"It means don't label me as a criminal when you don't even know the full history of your organization," Musa's voice came out in a strain.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please look around you if you are standing on the dance floor and grab the first partner you see to begin the festivities. We ask that you grab the nearest partner to start dancing," a voice over the speakers announced.

Automatically guests were scrambling to either get off the dance floor or to grab a partner. Musa had tried to flee, but the crowds coming onto the floor and getting off were too great and she was left stranded with Riven in the middle of the dance floor.

"You two have to pair up," a lady ordered from behind Musa. She gave her a little shove and Musa ended up in the arms of Riven.

"If you so much as think about touching my ass or even doing it I will destroy you," Musa warned, giving him a death stare.

"Same rules apply to you," he shot back. He could not have been more annoyed with the situation at hand. He barely even knew how to dance.

Strings and brass instruments started and could be heard throughout the ballroom. With the start of the music everyone on the dance floor began to sway and twirl.

Riven grasped Musa's waist, making sure his hand was well above her ass and took her hand in his. With an annoyed expression Musa rested her other hand on his shoulder.

"This sucks," Musa voiced both of their opinions.

"I never thought that I would agree with you on anything," Riven replied.

"I swear I'm going to shoot Cal when I get back," Musa muttered quietly, but Riven heard almost every word.

"Who is Cal? You've mentioned him in my presence twice now," Riven asked curiously.

"No one," Musa mumbled trying to cover her slip of the tongue.

"Obviously not "no one"," Riven retorted.

"To you he is no one," Musa growled.

"Well no shit Sherlock. I don't know him," Riven spat.

"Alpha this is Zeta, we have a slight problem," came a voice from her earpiece.

_Shit _Musa thought to herself. She began casually moving them towards the outskirts of the dance floor.

Once there she removed herself from his grasp and sped away towards the tables that were set up. He had let her go and had stormed off in the other direction, not bothering to look where she had landed.

"Alpha to Zeta, what's the problem?" Musa asked worriedly into her device.

"We have the painting, but Gamma's passed out," Bloom replied.

"What do you mean passed out?" Musa inquired incredulously.

"There was this gas and Gamma went to take the painting off the wall the gas sprayed and well now Gamma's out cold," Stella informed Musa.

"Zeta, go meet up with Beta and Delta. Omega, stay there until I get there please, we'll carry Gamma to the second rendezvous point," Musa ordered.

She looked around the ballroom, her eyes roaming the Specialists to see if they still had their eyes on her. They seemed to be ignoring her so she slipped quietly out of the ballroom. The only one who had seen her was Riven who after a few minutes, silently followed her.

"Stella! You have to hold her up, I can't lift her on my own," Musa complained.

"Alpha, you're supposed to use my codename," Stella shot back.

"What's going on?" Riven asked from the shadows.

"Shit," Stella yelped.

Musa shot her a glare that said to shut up.

"Aren't you from Hood?" Riven asked, looking over at Stella.

She gave a huge gulp that could be seen traveling down her esophagus.

"No," Stella squeaked.

"She's not a Hood agent. Barely knows what Hood is," Musa handed Layla all the way to Stella and moved in front of both of them to block Riven's direct path to the two girls.

"Looks like she is one," Riven noted based on the comms device that had fallen out of Layla's pocket.

"That's mine," Musa said quickly bending down to pick it up, her eyes never leaving the figure of Riven.

"What is Hood?" Stella asked innocently. Layla was beginning to stir and would probably blurt some things out that shouldn't be spoken in front of the Red Fountain Specialist.

"Let them go, they have nothing to do with Hood," Musa growled nervously.

"I think they do," Riven smiled, knowing that he had them right where he wanted them, on their toes.

"Omega, run," Musa whispered behind her back.

Stella didn't need to be told twice, she took off running towards the mapped out escape route. Luckily for her Riven hadn't called for backup.

As Stella bolted down the hall Riven started to run after them, but was stopped cold when Musa delivered a well-aimed punch to his gut.

"Miss me?" Musa said sweetly.

"What did you do this time?" Riven spat.

"I told you nothing. I was only here to have fun," Musa shrugged as she put herself into a defensive stance, silently cursing herself for wearing high heels and a long dress.

"Why don't I believe you?" Riven asked suspiciously.

"Because there has never been any trust between our organizations and there never will be so by association there will never be any trust between us," Musa fired off.

"Seems like you've thought about it a lot," Riven replied his hands coming up into an attacking stance.

"Are you really going to hit a girl in a dress?" Musa asked, hopeful that his answer would be no. She was not in the mood to fight especially in heels.

Riven stood up straight and gave her a dubious look.

"By the way you fight you're not a girl," Riven remarked.

"Wow, I don't know whether to be thankful for the compliment or annoyed at the insult," Musa mocked.

She slowly took a step back to see if he would lunge at her, he didn't.

"How about this, since I'm feeling gracious and you haven't killed me yet, I'll give you a twenty second head start," Riven offered.

"Say go," Musa replied.

"Go," Riven responded.

Like a cheetah Musa sprinted away from Riven.

"You shouldn't have given me a head start," Musa called back behind her shoulder as she raced away from Riven's view while he counted to twenty silently in his head.

Once twenty seconds were up he rushed to where he had seen Musa go. Unfortunately for him, she knew the exits too well and he couldn't find her anywhere. His eyes roamed around the hallway and his ears were perked for any noise, but he saw nothing and heard nothing.

Sighing he turned back around and headed for the ballroom. Behind his disappearing figure, a body slid out from the shadows and noiselessly snickered at Riven's own blindness.

Then the body bounded away towards the second rendezvous point.

* * *

"How're you feeling?" Musa asked the stirring figure in the infirmary bed.

"Huh?" Layla mumbled drowsily.

"You were out for quite a while. Seems you need to work on watching out for surprise attacks as well," Musa chuckled softly.

"That's not funny," Layla muttered.

"Don't worry, we got the painting and everything went off without a hitch. Well, almost," Musa added in quickly.

"What do you mean almost?"

"Stella and I almost got stopped by a Specialist, but obviously we were able to break free," Musa shrugged.

"How long do I have to stay in here?" Layla asked, her face gloomy.

"A few more hours. At least enough time for the stuff to get out of your system," Musa replied.

"While we're here, you and Cal are a thing aren't you?" Layla questioned risking a side glance at the body sitting next to her.

Musa stiffened and her muscles became tense. She took a deep breath and then answered Layla's question.

"I guess you could call it that," Musa murmured. She didn't want to lie to her teammates about what was going on. She needed their complete and utter trust.

"I'm not going to tell Stella if that's what you're worried about," Layla said patting Musa's hand reassuringly, "I just want to make sure my team leader knows what the hell she's getting into."

"I'm well aware, unfortunately," Musa replied.

"You know, you've seemed a bit off lately, I mean besides the whole sneaking around with Cal thing," Layla noted.

"Thanks, it's kind of a long story and I haven't even come to grips with it, but I promise that I'll tell you all very soon," Musa reassured.

"Okay, but you know that the whole team is here for you," Layla responded.

"I know, I better get going to tell the girls how you're doing," Musa said heaving herself up from the chair.

"You and Cal look really cute together," Layla snickered before Musa had gotten to the door.

Musa sent her a teasing glare before heading out of the infirmary where she ran into Stella.

"How's Layla?" Stella burst out.

"She's fine, I think she needs some time to rest though so that she can get that crap out of her system," Musa warned the exuberant blond.

"Ugh, fine. You'll have to help me then," Stella said grabbing Musa's wrist and dragging her down the hall.

"Help you with what?" Musa exclaimed in shock.

"I'm going out on a date and I need to look fabulous," Stella replied giddily.

Musa rolled her eyes, but followed Stella to her room that she shared with Layla.

"Which one?" Stella asked holding up two completely different outfits.

Musa yawned and pointed to the one on the right.

"That one," Musa said.

"Skinny jeans, sweater, and a scarf it is," Stella said discarded the other outfit.

"Did you do a background check on the guy?" Musa asked sleepily.

"Of course, I had Tecna run it last night. He checks out," Stella shrugged as she walked into her closet and started to change.

"You should come out with me," Stella called out from the closet.

"Why?"

"Because silly, you're single and we're only going to a club on our date," Stella said as she came out from the closet.

"Not really in the mood Stell," Musa grimaced at the thought of going to a club to see people grinding which did not really fit her mood at the moment.

"Come on Musa, live a little. We can't be Captain Serious all the time. I mean sure, we are criminal agents, but still that doesn't stop all of us from having a little fun now and then," Stella yelled in Musa's ear.

"Stella, I really don't want to go," Musa complained.

"What if Cal went?" Stella prodded.

"What?" Musa said in shock.

"Oh, come one, you two are definitely a thing and if you aren't then you could have fooled me," Stella noted.

"Stella…What...Cal and I…Ugh," Musa said putting her face in the palms of her hands.

"Don't deny it Musa, you depressed types were made for each other," Stella sighed in bliss.

"Stella, I'm not depressed," Musa muttered.

"You're not denying that you're with Cal," Stella teased.

"You know, if you were anyone else I would pound you right now right?" Musa growled.

"Now how are you going to get a date with an attitude like that?" Stella squealed.

"Stella I don't need a date," Musa stated.

"Because you're with Cal," Stella giggled.

"I…Cal and I…Stella!" Musa shouted annoyingly at the blond.

"Oh come on, you guys are so a thing. Don't lie to me Musa or else I will never ever trust you again," Stella gave her a pouty face, playing on Musa's leadership weakness of needing the team's trust.

"Ugh fine! I guess you could say that Cal and I are a thing," Musa unwillingly mumbled.

"Ah! Really? Finally! Oh my gosh you two have been giving each other wonder eyes for the past three years and now you're finally together! Ah! I'm so excited!" the blond pranced about the room screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Stella!" Musa cried to get her to shut up.

"I told you Cal was perfect for you," Stella hollered in delight.

Musa rolled her eyes and flipped open her cellphone. She had gotten a text when Stella had been excitedly screaming like a little kid in a candy store.

"I have to go," Musa said hurriedly as she raced for the door.

"Musa! You can't leave now, you need to tell me the details!" Stella exclaimed, attempting to block Musa's path.

"Stella, I need to go," Musa reproached the blond.

"Uh fine, we'll have some girl talk later," Stella said, stepping aside to let Musa pass.

"Or never," Musa muttered once she was out of the earshot of the blond.

* * *

"You wanted to see me?" Musa asked as she stepped into the office.

"I have some news for you," she heard Cal's voice come from the corner of the office.

"What're you doing?" she asked watching as he balanced himself on one hand before kicking out with his leg. He finished the kick through, while staying balanced.

"Practicing a new move," Cal said as he lifted himself off the floor.

"Pretty impressive, what's the news?" Musa asked coming over to where he was. She plunked herself down in the seat that was opposite the desk while he sat on the corner of it facing her.

"I spoke with Cris Harmony," Cal began.

Musa nodded thoughtfully. Harmony was the person she had thought was her father, but was really helping her mother.

"What about?" Musa asked.

"About the Magix plans for Melody," Cal finished.

"Plans?" Musa distractedly asked. She was busy wondering what the heck Magix could have planned out for Melody.

"We're both thinking that they're coming after you because they need something or someone to rule over Melody for them. You'll probably be put in as a proxy queen, but we already knew that. I don't think they're going to stop until they find you though and Harmony agrees. Magix has plenty of time and as long as you, er, um, don't reproduce or at least as long as they don't find out, they have until you pass away or they find your offspring," Cal mumbled uncomfortably. He didn't want to tell her at the moment that if she ever did reproduce he hoped it would be with him because he didn't want to scare her. He had been feeling confused with the emotions he had been feeling for her, but decided to just go with it. He had never been this close to anyone since the incident which had left him emotionless and cold to everyone he had met, except Musa.

"What?" Musa choked out in astonishment at his comment.

"I don't think they'll stop until you're found or you're dead, only it wouldn't be in their best interest to kill you so I think they only want to capture you," Cal considered.

"Well that really lifted my spirits," Musa muttered as she slumped back into the chair.

"At least you're life isn't on the line," Cal noted taking her hand in his.

"At least," she echoed.

"You should probably meet him for real," Cal burbled.

"Who?" Musa murmured absentmindedly.

"Harmony," Cal replied in a calm and soothing voice. Her hand was trembling in his and her eyes were glossed over in thought.

"Hmm, I don't even think I remember him. Can I even trust him?" her voice dropped to a whisper. Ever since she was younger she had always had trust issues, even with Cal, she could probably never trust him completely, but she was pretty damn close.

"I think you can," Cal said.

"Maybe, I don't know anymore," Musa shook her head in despair.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hi all, so I'm going to go with the "write the middle part later" and "go straight to the future chapters" idea. Mainly because this piece of work is far from done, but I didn't want it to just sit and rot on my computer for 10 more years before I decided to post it to Fanfiction. Anyways what this story has become is almost like a long, extended preview for what will be a fabulous novel, when I get around to revising and such, but enjoy the preview of the story.**

Explanation of all of the middle stuff going on:

So we leave off with Cal and Musa talking, basically they're relationship grows and they fall even more madly in love. That's about it for what they're relationship is doing.

Musa and Riven are starting to hate each other more and more, being archrivals and all. They have many encounters because each are trying to thwart the other one's mission and what not.

Meanwhile the Magix government is becoming more corrupt and there are talks of a takeover of Melody, which threatens Musa being found out...which is exactly what happens.

Basically the scene plays out that Riven has a lightbulb moment where he FINALLY realizes Musa is the girl that Magix has been looking for. He informs what is kind of like the head of the Magix government, particularly the corrupt side (the guy is the one who ordered Musa's mother to be killed). Riven and this head of government (HOG) go to find Musa and the HOG fight it out, a lot of secrets about how corrupt Magix actually is comes out and Riven hears it all. His whole idea about Magix and the Specialists is wrong and he's so devastated he leaves the group.

Few months later, HOG, Musa and Cal are fighting. Musa and Cal run out on a rooftop, and that's where my story continues.


	4. Chapter 4

"No!" the hoarse voice croaked out when the body hit the ground. A small trail of viscous red liquid trailed out on the ground, the origin seeming to be from the upper chest area.

The man that stood on the roof looked down with a quiet satisfaction at his handy work. Musa would not get in the way now that she knew he was the real deal.

The girl sprinted across the lower rooftop, taking a few shots at the disappearing figure on the roof above her.

When she got to the body she kneeled down and lifted his head. His dark brown hair fell across his eyes so she moved them back off of his face. She looked down hesitantly hoping that he was still there, praying that he hadn't left her this soon.

She could feel the adrenaline course through her veins. She looked around frantically to look for something to stop the bleeding.

"Shit," she cursed when she couldn't see anything in site. She tore off a piece of cloth from her black cargo pants and placed it firmly in the area where he was bleeding and applied a ferocious pressure on the wound. It was of no use as the blood spurted past the cloth and past her hand, like a river coursing to the ocean, the blood was rushing to the concrete.

"Musa," a soft murmur came from the man that was bleeding out before her eyes.

She turned to look at him and couldn't hold back the emotions any longer. Pain was being thrust into her gut like a sharp knife. The knife was thrust into her gut, into her heart, into any vital organ she had and then it was twisted while lodged into her soul, sending her body into convulsions. Her mind hazed over and all she could focus on was the man in front of her. The man she loved so dearly and didn't think she could ever live without.

"Cal, don't talk. Shhh, help's on the way. The girls are on their way," Musa babbled out, her voice sobbing with emotion. Her chest was heaving up and down and each breath she took felt like someone was shooting her in the trachea. She was letting out shallow ragged breaths and trying to gasp for air, it felt like she was drowning.

"Musa, I love you," the voice that set her heart aflutter whispered.

"No, stop. Don't say goodbyes. Cal, you'll make it through, you'll see. I love you too much for you to go. Don't stop fighting. Don't stop fighting you son of a bitch. Cal! I love you," Musa choked. The tears were beginning to fall like the water at Niagara Falls. She could feel streaks upon streams upon rivers flowing from her eyes. Her cheeks were glistening with the heavy rainfall. It was as if the being up above was crying with her, saddened that Cal would leave the Earth so soon.

She couldn't control the exodus of emotions from her body. She twisted with rage and shook with sadness. She cried out in pain and whimpered in worry. Her body was in a never ending war for control of her emotions and she felt herself spiraling out of control.

Cal's eyes were drooping and the blood from his wound was still spurting around the soaked cloth Musa was pressing into his body. He could feel the life slipping away from him, no matter how hard he tried to cling onto it. He knew in his heart that he was dying, but he couldn't die without fighting for her, for their love, for them.

He tried to reach out, hold onto anything, a spiritual being, a ghost, anything. He wanted to reach out, tell them he couldn't leave, not like this. There was so much to be said and so much that wasn't said. He had to show Musa how much he loved her. He had to tell her.

Using his dwindling energy he brought one of his hands up to touch her cheek, brushing away the tears and the rain that had combined to form salt water.

With his other hand he reached out and grasped her hand, guiding it towards his pants pocket, where there was a small square shape protruding from it.

"Just know that I love you," his body shook. With his last ounce of energy he brought her face down and pressed his lips into hers, one last time.

"No, please don't do this. Cal, please," Musa sobbed when the light went out of his eyes. There were the bright blue orbs that she was used to and then they were replaced with grey. They were the same blue, but they looked different, odd, strange. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. He never should have gotten involved, but he had insisted and then he had insisted on jumping in the line of fire to prevent her from getting shot.

"Cal, I love you," Musa croaked and looked up into the sky, cursing whatever the hell was up there, cursing the Magix government and their insistence upon ruining her life, cursing the Red Fountain team that had killed her mother, cursing the president of Red Fountain for killing Cal and cursing herself for letting him get himself involved in the mess.

"Cal," she whimpered, finally letting her hand ease off of his wound. She slowly reached up on his neck to feel his pulse. It was gone. She knew there was no use in giving him CPR, no matter how much she wanted to. He was gone, just like that. The heart that had been beating so strongly the night before, so strongly that she had felt the thumping against her own chest when they were tangled up in each other's arms, was gone, dead, flat-lined. She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it.

She looked at his face one last time before moving her hand over to his eyes and closing his eyelids. Musa looked around on the roof, mindlessly watching as the rain crashed into the concrete, oblivious to the sounds of the booming thunder and unaware of the crackling lightning.

She sat in solitude for what seemed like a century. Thinking to herself, promising herself revenge in the fullest way possible.

She suddenly remembered where he had placed her hand and realized that she was still resting it on top of his pants pocket. She felt the square protrusion and wondered to herself what it could be. She carefully took out the small box and felt her heart sink even lower than it already was. Inside of his pocket was a black velvet box. The velvet felt cool on her skin and she opened it up curiously, heart sinking even lower than low when she realized what was inside.

"No!" she looked up at the black void of a sky and cried out, her cries echoing off of the rooftops and bouncing along the streets. Musa lifted the limp body that was still laying on her leg and pressed it close to her. The box dropped from her hands and landed with a thud on the pavement. The diamond flashed its beauty while lying on the concrete. She felt another round of tears fall from her face when she looked at the silver band.

"I vow, on my life, that I will avenge your death and I will take back Melody and I will fight to keep it standing," her tone turned rigid and cold, "if I don't, your death will have been in vain," she struggled to get the last sentence out.

"Musa!" she heard a voice call out to her. Musa turned away from the voice and gently laid down Cal's body. She grabbed the velvet box and took out the ring. Surveying it, she turned it around a few times and then slipped it onto her ring finger. There was no way she was going to take it off. She gracefully stood up and wiped away some of the lone tears that were still flowing down her face and turned around to greet her teammates.

"What happened?" Bloom cried out when they reached Musa. Tecna's face had gone slack and Layla's mouth hung open in misbelief. They were gaping at the body that Musa stood in front of. She looked up to the sky, wondering where the rain was. It had stopped awhile ago, but she hadn't noticed due to her persistent tears.

"Magix. Red Fountain. I need to go somewhere," Musa apathetically pronounced.

"Musa, I don't think you should be traveling in your condition," Stella looked with concern on her best friend.

"I need to go. I can't be here," Musa choked back a sob.

"What about Cal?" Layla cautiously asked, knowing full well that Musa could snap. In these types of emotional situations it was hard to tell if Musa would actually beat the living shit out of them or not if she did snap.

"Can you take his body back? I want it buried, but right now, I need to find someone. Cal will have a funeral. He deserves one. I'll be back in two days and then we'll bury him. I'll make the arrangements," Musa robotically spit out in list form. Cal's death had left her emotionally void, her mind apathetic to whatever happened.

"Okay sweetie. We're here if you need anything," Flora chimed in with her sweet voice. She looked at the other girls as if in a warning. Musa had to do what Musa had to do.

"We'll see you when you get back," Tecna nodded.

Musa nodded and then turned away from them. Taking a deep breath she darted across the roof and jumped.

The girls would take care of Cal and although Musa wanted to be with his body for as long as possible, she knew it was of no use to cry over spilt milk. She could not let him die in vain. She couldn't let any of them die in vain, her mother, Cal. She loved them too much to let that happen. Instead she would make herself useful and ensure that none of her other teammates would be harmed and that Cal's murderer would get what was coming to him.

As she soared down to the ground, she sent out one of the grappling hooks on her belt and caught one of the ledges of the building. She let it loose and drifted down to the street, safely on her feet and on land once again.

She paused to think. The Red Fountain Specialist had said something about living in Magix, but where? Or rather, former Red Fountain Specialist. As much as they bickered and had a mutual distaste for the other, she needed his help, whether he gave it to her willingly would be the question.

She looked down at her clothes. Her black cargo pants were torn and her black tank top was practically ripped to shreds. Her hands were covered with the drying blood of Cal and her eyes were red from exhaustion and angst.

"Where to go?" she mumbled to herself, before a thought crossed her mind.

She began walking, towards the man that she hoped would help her. If he didn't, she would have to take matters into her own hands and she wished that she wouldn't have to use violence.

* * *

The man heard a faint knock on the door and begrudgingly got up off his couch to see who it was.

He opened the door and was knocked off his feet by the figure brushing past him and the door.

The ex-Specialist whipped around to come face to face with his long time nemesis, but mysterious now and then dueling partner.

He gave her a look up and down. Her face was taught and she looked in rough shape. Her hair was soaked and water was still dripping from the ends. Her clothes were tattered and blood was painting her hands a deep red color.

"Musa? What are you doing here?" he asked, flabbergasted that she would try to find him. They had last seen each other on weird terms to say the least. He had found out what the Red Fountain Specialists were really about, had heard her story and had seen the Director try to kill her. It had been weird to say the least. He was a disgraced Specialist now though. The Director had suspended him, practically fired him, for not following after Musa when she had escaped. He had wanted to, but something told him, his gut told him, that she wasn't the real enemy, that the Specialists were the real threat to the good of the people.

"Hello Riven," she deadpanned, "glad to see you haven't forgotten me."

"What do you want?" he asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. She had, after all, cost him his job and ripped apart his delusions on Red Fountain and the grandeur of the Magix government.

"I need your help," she coldly said.

"What for?" he questioned, getting more suspicious with every second.

"They killed Cal. Your Director, or rather, ex-Director killed Cal and I need them to pay for what they did. I need your help," she bluntly replied. He could see the pain welling up in her dark irises and understood that her fight against Red Fountain had just become more personal than it was before.

"Why should I help you?" he grumbled, still unsure of if he could trust her or not.

"I'll give you an ultimatum. Either help me, because you know that what Red Fountain and Magix is doing is wrong; wrong to the citizens of Magix and horrendous to the citizens of Melody. You know that they are killing innocent people to get to me and you now know that they have no boundaries when it comes to getting what they want. So, you can either help me, or suffer my wrath. I'd rather not resort to violence, but I'm a desperate woman so I will do what I need to do," her voice sounded like nails grinding on a chalkboard. He flinched from her threat, knowing how dangerous she was. However, deep inside, he knew that he couldn't resist her cry for help. He knew that Red Fountain and Magix were both very dangerous organizations, if you could even call them that. He knew his time at Red Fountain, his training, his role models had all been a lie, one giant, fat lie. On top of that deep down inside, hidden to his consciousness, he couldn't resist her, he would never be able to, she had that kind of effect on him.

"What do you need my help for?" he asked, sighing and crossing his arms over his chest, trying to show her that he was slightly annoyed.

"I need you to help me fight against Red Fountain and Magix. I don't have many friends outside of the Hood Agency and I think it's time that I start making allies in different places," Musa said slowly, eying him with suspicion. She wanted to trust him because she needed him to be on her side to take down Magix. He was a strong fighter and had worked for Red Fountain for almost his entire life.

"Well, I guess you can count on me," his mouth slowly curved into a smile.

"In that case, you better come with me, back to Hood. I don't want my allies to be offed by Magix, plus I don't know what your team would do at your betrayal," she said, feeling a little guilty that he had found out the secrets of Magix and Red Fountain the way he did, but nonetheless feeling relieved that he had found out and that she was able to sway one of their top Specialists.

"They wouldn't be happy about it," he mumbled, remembering his team. They were not pleased to see him go, especially without an explanation.

"Probably not," she replied in a stone cold voice. Her eyes shifted around the apartment, wary that Magix had anticipated her move and had sent agents after her.

"If you don't mind, could you at least explain your," he paused and motioned at her attire, "clothes."

"Do you remember who Cal is? You saw him once, when you were supposed to bring in that Melody diplomat and we stopped you. I've talked about him before?" she looked at him and he could see the pain and angst welling up in her eyes.

"Yeah, I remember," he nodded.

"Cal and I were in love. He was my everything and they killed him," she shook with anger. She could feel the frustration take hold of her internal networks in her brain and she was upset that she couldn't keep her frantic emotions under control.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," he murmured and then noticed her hand was sporting a very noticeable rock.

"I don't need your pity," she spat angrily. He let it go because he figured her emotions were on the fritz. On some level, he couldn't help but be a little upset that her heart belonged fully to another man.

"I wasn't trying to give it to you. I was trying to be nice," he retorted.

"Well," she stuttered before shaking her head and walking towards the door, "coming?" she asked pointedly.

"Coming," he nodded and rolled his eyes at her. Granted, she had a right to feel upset considering the love of her life was just killed in front of her eyes.

* * *

"This is the complex. Welcome to Hood," she stood just outside of the nondescript building with the ex-specialist standing across from her.

"Well are you going to show me in?" he questioned.

She shook her head to reply no before sighing deeply.

"I have to do a few things before I go in there again. First, I need to decompress. I don't think I should be giving orders to my agents while I'm in a fragile emotional state. Secondly, I need to find Cal's surviving family members and tell them. I know that he has a brother. And lastly, I need some time to grieve," she gave him one of the most honest answers he had ever heard from her.

"I see. Are you sure they'll open me with welcome arms?" he looked at her incredulously.

"I called them to warn them," she shrugged. Not really in the mood to care if they welcomed him or not. After all, when she had gone into Red Fountain, she wasn't exactly greeted nicely with hellos.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Here is another excerpt from the story that I have finished. **

**Sorry for the late update, I've been trying to fix the other areas of the story and I was also out of the country for a month on vacation.**

* * *

"What's that supposed to mean?" the former specialist asked, his voice unsure.

"Exactly what I said," Musa shrugged and soon disappeared, there one second and gone the next.

Riven sighed, questioning his motives for getting involved in the first play and not quite finding them in his overloaded brain. He shrugged the thoughts from his mind and grabbed the door handle and swung open the door.

"Is that him?" Riven heard before he could even step inside the building.

"He used the front door, obviously it's him," a female's voice snapped.

"I'm just surprised that Musa decided to team up with him of all people," a girl with blonde hair hissed. Riven began to make out the group of girls that was in front of him as he stepped inside the building.

"Hmmm, he's cuter than I thought he'd be," he heard from his right.

"You've seen him before," the blonde rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but only through camera," a girl with pink hair replied.

"I can hear you, you know," Riven growled, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Yeah, we know," a girl with dark brown hair narrowed her eyes at him.

"So what am I supposed to do now?" Riven ignored the sarcastic comment.

"Wait there for Musa. Until she gets back, you don't have any clearance to enter the building," the blonde shrugged and turned around to walk away.

The other girls followed her suit and turned to walk away as well. Riven wondered what his chances were if he did indeed move, but noticed a camera focused on him and a box mounted to the wall a few feet away from him. He guessed that if he did indeed move then the sensor in the box would alert someone somewhere.

He sighed and leaned against the wall that held the box and looked around. There wasn't much in the lobby of Hood, if you could even call it a lobby. It looked like a plain and simple gray room with dark tinted glass windows and an open hallway. There were a lot of people running around with various papers, a few agents that held various weapons in their hands and others on their phones. _Hood seems to be pretty busy, _Riven mused to himself. He wondered what all of the bustle was about.

* * *

Musa looked down at the address on the torn up piece of paper that was held limply in her hand. She heaved a sigh before shaking her head in confusion and disappointment. She brought her hands up to her face and dragged them down, ignoring the grime she felt collect on her fingers.

"Arghh!" Musa screamed out in frustration and pain, salty tears dotting her eyes.

She looked down at the shredded piece of paper, it's faded letters and lies seemingly laughing in her face.

Her head turned towards the door of the apartment that she stood in front of to make sure of herself before she left. The large red block letters stared back at her "EVICTED", she read over and over, her brain having trouble comprehending the troublesome words.

She had been traveling the whole night and soon the sun would be rising to spread its warmth and light across the land, though to Musa it felt like the daybreak would only cast a shadow over her for without her love she felt empty, much like she did the day her mother died.

Her head spun with revenge plans. She would be patient to get her revenge much like she was when she was first captured by the Specialists. She would fester in her pain and her hatred and build up those emotions until the perfect moment for her to strike out against the very people that took away everything.

_They took away her mother_, she reminded herself, her fists balling up and her nails sinking ever so deeper into her skin until she felt a viscous liquid being released, _they took away Cal and laughed_, Musa's skin burned with rage and crackled with the power she felt coursing through her veins that lay beneath her outer shell, _they attacked her country, they're trying to take over, _Musa's blood reached a scathing temperature as the thoughts kept building up in her mind. If she had no control her feet would have led her straight to Red Fountain, but she took a deep breathe, her chest rising and falling slowly before turning towards Hood. She would have her revenge, she would make sure that would be so and she would die trying.

* * *

Riven's eyes opened quickly and with a startled groan the gears in his mind began to once again turn. He took in the sunlight that was seeping through the tinted windows.

"So you're finally up?" a steely voice made him swing his head to the right causing a little bit of whiplash in the process.

"Where have you been?" he asked the female standing in front of him. She still looked a mess, her shirt and pants were ripped up and dirt caked her shoes and fingers. He could still see the remnants of blood on her hands and her face. Her shoulders were pulled back and her eyes looked like bullet proof shields. He hand never seen her like this, but could tell from the tension in her face and the razor sharp energy she was giving off that this was not the time to be messing with her.

"Out. I had to take care of a few things," she growled.

Riven nodded and mentally zippered his lips together, feeling the menacing threat of the girl standing in front of him.

He diverted his eyes from her to look around the building. He could see a lot of people with determination on their faces delivering packages or speed walking through the halls to get their jobs done. He had never seen as much hustle and bustle as this, even when he was at Red Fountain.

"Everyone seems like they're really concentrated on their jobs around here. Is that why Hood was always one step ahead of us?" he cheekily asked only to be silenced by a pointed glare that sprang off of Musa's face.

"They all want a promotion. They want my job now that Cal's gone. I was second in command so the normal progression is that I become the head of Hood, which Cal was grooming me for anyways. They're working hard because they want my old job," Musa sighed, tension being released from her body as she stretched her arms up over her head. She had to calm down. She could feel the anger bubbling just beneath the surface and quietly reminded herself that she would get her revenge, but she had to wait patiently and build up a plan first. Her anger attempted to rear its head, but her logical mind put it down quickly and she switched gears since she was the new leader of Hood and had to make sure the agency continued to function.

"So am I allowed to go in now?" he couldn't help but ask. His question threw Musa out of her thoughts. She had almost forgotten that he had had to stay in the lobby of the building and hadn't been allowed to pass by the invisible barrier without her consent.

"Hmm? Oh, right. Yeah, come with me, I'll show you around," he could hear the change in Musa's voice. She moved her hand up to the box that was on the wall and punched in a few numbers before motioning him to follow her. It was odd to see that she had completely flipped the switch from being cold and threatening to sounding like a real leader. He couldn't help but wonder what had changed her inside, at least for the moment.


End file.
